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Cibrary  of  Che  theological  ^tmimvy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Mrs.   Charles  Henry  G-reenleaf 

'B6Z-585 
.8 


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^^^rL^CU     ^' 


THE 


LETTERS  OF  JESUS. 


LENTEN  LECTURES. 


BY 


JOSEPH    A.   SEISS,   D.D.,  LL.D., 

AUTHOK    o.    "LhCTURHS    ON    THK    GoSPH.s/'    "  LhCTUKHS    OU.U. 

i^PiSTLEs,      "  Voices  from  Babylon,"  "  Lectures 
ON  THE  Apocalypse,"  etc.,  etc. 


"  Remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
LUTHERAN    BOOKSTORE 

1889. 


Copyright,   1889, 
BY  JOSEPH    A.    SEISS. 


PRESS  OF 

S^Erman  &  Co.,  f  ^ilabtlp^ia. 


Westcott  &  Thomson, 
Stereotypers  and  EUctrotypers,  Philada 


PREFACE. 


The  Lectures  here  following  were  prepared  for 
the  author's  week-day  appointments  during  Lent. 
Direct  practical  impression,  and  not  critical  elab- 
oration, was  the  controlling  aim  in  their  compo- 
sition. As  they  were  preached  in  different  years, 
some  repetitions  of  thought  occur  in  them  which 
might  have  been  eliminated  to  the  advantage  of 
their  literary  finish;  but  as  the  same  things  recur 
in  the  "text,  and  differ  in  the  form  in  which  they 
reappear  in  the  Lectures,  it  has  been  concluded  to 
leave  all  as  originally  delivered. 

Lent  is  by  general  consent  a  season  arranged  by 
the  Church  for  the  calling  of  its  members  to  a 
special  sobering  of  their  minds  for  serious  medi- 
tation upon  their  situation  with  regard  to  spirit- 
ual things.  It  is  a  time  to  call  to  mind  the  pres- 
ence and  inspection  of  God,  His  displeasure  with 
sin,  and  how  we  are  to  secure  salvation  from  it. 


4  PREFACE. 

It  is  a  time  for  earnest  seeking  unto  the  Lord  to 
discover  and  amend  what  is  defective  in  our  hearts 
and  lives,  and  for  the  quickening  of  our  endeavors 
to  be  in  full  accord  with  the  divine  requirements. 
Christians  need  such  seasons.  The  sensibility  of 
conscience  is  liable  to  become  dulled.  Our  real- 
ization of  the  need  of  the  Saviour,  and  our  hold 
of  faith  upon  Him  as  our  only  hope,  require  fre- 
quent deepening  and  intensifying.  We  must  be- 
times turn  aside  from  our  ordinary  ways  and 
indulgences  to  consider  what  we  are,  wdiere  we 
are,  and  whither  we  are  going.  We  cannot 
make  progress  in  the  divine  life  without  oft 
stimulation  to  the  reverence  and  ardor  of  our 
supplications,  faith,  and  resolves.  And,  though 
other  times  and  seasons  may  and  should  be  used 
for  these  ends.  Lent,  with  its  special  services  and 
prayers,  is  intended  to  subserve  such  spiritual 
purposes,  and  well  answers  to  them. 

And  when  it  comes  to  such  an  arraignment  of 
ourselves  before  the  bar  of  God  to  make  sure  of 
our  estate  before  Him,  it  would  seem  to  be  greatly 
helpful  for  us  seriously  to  take  up  and  devoutly 
consider  these  Letters  of  Jesus  to  His  professing 
people  on  the  earth.      Here  we  are  brought  into 


PREFACE.  5 

iiiiniediate  communication  with  our  living  Lord 
Himself,  present  throughout  His  churches,  ob- 
serving everything,  and  giving  His  infallible 
estimates  and  decisions  on  what  He  beholds, 
commending  what  is  pleasing  to  Him  and  con- 
demning what  He  disapproves  and  hates.  Here 
we  have  His  own  directions  and  commands  ac- 
cording to  the  situation  in  each  separate  case, 
wherein  also  He  tells  us  exactly  what  shall  be 
the  result  of  dutiful  fidelity  on  the  one  hand  and 
disregard  of  His  Word  on  the  other.  And  hardly 
another  section  of  Holy  Scripture  is  to  be  found 
better  calculated  to  impress  the  heart,  awaken 
spiritual  consciousness,  animate  our  hopes,  and 
further  us  in  the  way  of  Christian  improvement. 
Hence  the  choice  of  it  for  these  Lenten  Lectures. 

In  treating  of  these  sacred  Letters  the  endeavor 
has  been  to  deal  faithfully  with  the  divine  Word 
without  regard  to  anything  else,  to  avoid  all  rash- 
ness and  doubtful  speculation,  and  to  venture 
nothing  on  mere  guess  or  conjecture.  It  would 
be  presumption  for  the  author  to  claim  that  he 
has  in  every  instance  succeeded  in  accurately 
voicing   and   applying   the    Saviour's    meaning; 


O  PREFACE. 

but  in  so  far  as  he  has  light  he  is  quite  convinced 
of  the  truths  he  has  sought  to  bring  into  view. 
Nor  would  he  have  preached  these  Lectures,  or 
now  consent  to  give  them  to  the  public,  if  he 
were  not  persuaded  that  such  as  sincerely  desire 
to  learn  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  may  get  from  them 
some  wholesome  impressions  to  help  them  in 
Christian  life,  and  some  perhaps  not  before  so 
distinctly  reached.  Certainly,  things  of  very 
solemn  moment  to  all  are  here  brought  into 
contemplation,  and  things  wdiich  should  not  fail 
to  quicken  spiritual  life,  strengthen  holy  pur- 
poses, dispose  to  patience  under  trials,  and  inflame 
with  zealous  desire  to  obtain  the  promises  which 
our  Lord  holds  out  to  the  overcomers  in  the  con- 
flict for  the  immortal  prize. 

Accordingly,  these  Lectures  are  submitted  with 
the  hope  and  prayer  that  this  attempt  to  draw 
out  and  apply  "what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
churches"  may  be  of  service  to  souls,  and  re- 
dound to  the  praise  of  Him  who  walks  amid 
the  golden  candlesticks  and  holds  the  stars  in 
His  right  hand. 

Philaijp:lphia,  Advent,  1888. 


Table  of  Contents. 


Htctnxt  iPiist. 

PAGE 

Christ's  Letters  to  the  Cliurches 17 

Common  Neglect  of  these  Letters 18 

Letter  to  the  Church  at  Ephesus , 19 

The  Stars  in  Christ's  Right  Hand 19 

The  Golden  Candlesticks 20 

Christ  Amid  the  Candlesticks    . 21 

His  Presence  with  His  People 21 

His  Close  Observance  of  All 23 

The  Church  at  Ephesus 25 

Christ's  Account  of  this  Church 26 

Its  Good  Works  and  Patience 27 

Plow  it  Dealt  with  False  Teachers 28 

The  Fervency  of  its  Love 29 

The  Earnestness  of  its  Piety 30 

Well-doing  Deserves  Acknowledgment 31 

These  People  not  Perfect ;^^ 

No  Perfect  Church  on  Earth 3^ 

The  Wane  of  Love 34 

Uecture  Seconti, 

The  Defect  in  these  Ephesian  Christians 37 

Not  in  a  State  of  Apostasy •  .    .    -  38 

Declension  in  First  Love    .    , 4° 

Commonness  of  this  Defect 4° 

An  Easy  Thing  to  grow  Sluggish 4^ 

The  Remedy  Prescribed 42 

The  Better  Past  to  be  Remembered      43 

Enthusiasm  of  First  Discipleship 45 

7 


8  TABLE    OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Repentance  Recjuired 47 

Not  all  Repentance  the  Same 48 

I'irst  Works  to  be  Repeated 49 

Baptismal  Vows  to  be  Returned  to 50 

Encouragements  to  Amendment 51 

A  Serious  Threat 52 

ILcrture  Eljicti* 

Devout  Attention  Demanded 54 

Neglect  of  the  Divine  Word  Rebuked 55 

Outward  and  Inward  Hearing 57 

Christ's  Words  those  of  the  Spirit 59 

The  Character  and  Attitude  of  True  Believers 59 

Christians  are  Soldiers 60 

Enemies  to  be  Overcome — Ignorance 60 

Carnal  Nature 61 

Subtleties  and  Assaults  of  Satan 63 

Promise  to  the  Overcomer 64 

Eating  and  the  Tree  of  Life 65 

The  Promises  Graded 67 

Individuality  of  the  Promise      68 

The  Earthly  Church  not  Saved  as  a  Body 69 

ilecture  jFourti). 

Church  at  Smyrna 71 

The  Saviour's  Sympathy 72 

Tenderly  Considers  our  Weakness ' 73 

Has  Respect  to  our  Tribulations 75 

Why  He  Sends  Affliction 76 

Takes  to  Heart  what  His  People  Suffer 78 

Adversities  of  the  Smyrniotes 79 

Polycarp  and  his  Martyrdom 80 

Trials  not  to  be  Eeared  ....        81 

The  Great  Matter  is  Confidence  in  Jesus 82 

Poverty  that  is  Riches 83 

?ierture  dfifti). 

The  Church  at  Pergamos 85 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS.  9 

PAGB 

The  Sword  of  the  Word 86 

Moral  Surgery 87 

Christ's  Knowledge  of  the  Situation 88 

Unfavorable  Surruumlings 89 

Christ's  Name • 91 

Holding  Fast  Christ's  Name 93 

Dutifulness  to  the  Faith 94 

The  Gospel  Nothing  to  be  Ashamed  of 95 

The  Faithful  Antipas 97 

No  Excuse  for  Unfaithfulness      98 

ILerturc  ^ixtf). 

The  City  of  Pergamos 100 

"  Satan's  Throne  " loi 

Tenderness  of  Christ's  Censures 102 

The  Responsibility  of  Ministers 103 

Balaamism 104 

Balaamism  in  the  Church 106 

Christians  Serving  the  World 109 

Great  Ailment  of  Modern  Christians      no 

The  Nicolaitans m 

Not  yet  Extinct 112 

God  requires  Honest  Consistency 113 

Ecrtuve  £ebentt). 

Religious  Controversy II4 

Christ's  Judgment  on  Erring  Churches 116 

Individuality  not  lost  in  Community II7 

The  Conflict  to  be  Maintained 118 

Particular  Evils  to  be  Combated      119 

Promise  to  the  Victor 120 

Manna ^^i 

The  Hidden  Manna 122 

The  Glorified  Christ 123 

The  White  Stone      125 

The  New  Name ^26 

Encouragements  to  Fidehty ^^7 

Voices  from  Heaven ^^7 


lO  TABLE    OF  CONTENTS. 

?iectuce  iStgijti). 

PAGB 

Thyatira  and  Lydia 129 

Christ's  Description  of  Himself 13° 

The  Son  of  God 130  • 

Meaning  of  this  Claim 13^ 

Eyes  of  Flame 132 

Many  not  what  they  Seem 134 

Church  at  Thyatira  not  Totally  Apostate    . 137 

Some  Good  Christians  there 13^ 

Their  Faith  and  Patience 1 39 

The  Hindrances  in  their  Way 140 

Church  not  to  be  Forsaken  because  of  Evils  in  it 14I 

Growth  in  Grace 142 

No  Standstill  in  Christian  Life 143 

ILcctute  Kinti), 

Best  of  Churches  have  Unworthy  Members 145 

A  Plague-spot  in  the  Church  at  Thyatira 146 

Woman  in  Christianity 147 

The  Mischief  she  can  Do 148 

A  Second  Jezebel 148 

True  and  False  Inspirations 149 

"  The  Depths  of  Satan  " 152 

Warnings  before  Judgment 153 

A  Limit  to  God's  Forbearance 154 

Judgment  upon  Jezebel  and  her  Children 155 

The  Burdened  Faithful 156 

Encouragement  to  the  Tried 157 

Deliverance  will  Come 158 

Itecture  "^zxiW^. 

The  Letter  to  Thyatira  for  the  Whole  Church 160 

Duties  of  Christians  in  this  World 161 

To  Hold  and  Use  the  Word  and  Ordinances 162 

To  Maintain  the  Conflict  with  Evil 163 

To  Keep  Christ's  Works      164 

Incentives  to  Faithfulness 166 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS.  u 


PAGB 


Salvation  is  thus  made  Sure 1 57 

Brings  to  Heavenly  Office  antl  Administration 168 

Shepherdizing  of  the  Nations      jyi 

Possessing  the  Morning  Star 1^2 

Our  Labors  here  not  in  Vain 174 

?Lcfture  iSlebentij. 

Sardis 176 

The  Church  in  Sardis 177 

Christ's  Presentation  of  Himself  to 178 

lias  the  Seven  Spirits  of  God 178 

The  Paraclete 179 

The  Seven  Stars 179 

Condition  of  the  Church  in  Sardis      182 

A  Name  to  Live  while  Dead 183 

Christ's  Demand  upon  Them 184 

Drowsy  Eyes  must  be  Opened 184 

What  is  Perishing  must  be  Strengthened 185 

Past  Expei-iences  must  be  Recalled 186 

The  Reasons  Why 187 

Probation  and  Judgment 188 

The  Crisis  Impending 188 

Prominence  and  Power  of  this  Doctrine 189 

We  Know  not  the  Time 190 

Uectuce  Cbjelftfj. 

God  has  Saints  in  the  Worst  of  Times 192 

Our  Judgments  Often  at  Fault 193 

The  Saints  have  Garments  Undefiled 194 

In  the  World,  but  not  of  It 196 

Despised  on  Earth,  but  Esteemed  in  Heaven 198 

Shall  be  Clothed  in  White  Raiment 199 

The  Book  of  Life 201 

Names  therein , 202 

Christ's  Confession  of  His  Own 203 

Names  on  Earth  and  Names  in  Heaven 204 

Great  Things  for  our  Consideration 205 


12  TABLE    OF  CONTENTS. 

?ierture  ^jirteentij. 

PAGE 

The  Church  in  Philadelphia 207 

Those  who  Say  they  are  Jews,  Ijut  are  not 208 

False  Professors 210 

Profession  Necessary,  but  not  Sufficient 210 

Evil  in  the  Several  Churches 211 

The  Holy  One  and  the  True 214 

An  Open  Door 215 

Keeping  the  Word  of  Christ's  Patience 2i6 

Strength  in  Weakness 2i8 

Safety  from  the  Great  Tribulation 219 

Translation  and  Crowning  of  the  Waiting  Saints 220 

Urcture  jFourtcenti), 

Future  Blessedness  and  Glory  of  the  Saints 224 

Who  are  Saints 226 

The  Eternal  Temple 227 

Pillars  in  it 228 

God's  Name  upon  Them 230 

God's  Priests 231 

The  New  Jerusalem 232 

Heavenly  Citizenship 235 

Inscription  of  Christ's  New  Name 236 

Our  Riches  in  Christ 237 

The  Great  Possibilities  in  Life  Eternal 238 

Hectare  dFifteentf). 

The  wSeven  Churches  Prophetic  of  Seven  Periods      ......  241 

Our  Times  the  Laodicean  Period 243 

Christ  "The  Amen" 244 

Tlie  InilHlment  and  Authentication  of  All  Prophecy 245' 

"  The  Faithful  and  True  Witness  " 247 

The  Only  Revelator  of  God     . 248 

"  The  Beginning  of  the  Creation  of  God  " 249 

The  Operating  Cause  in  Creation 249 

How  Christ  would  have  us  Regard  Him 250 

A  Great  Thing  to  Know  Christ  Aright 25 1 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS.  13 


PAGE 


Archippus  and  his  Charge 253 

A  State  of  Coldness 254 

Not  Ajiproved  of  God 255 

A  State  of  Warmth 256 

Examples  of 257 

A  State  of  Lukewarmness 258 

Ways  in  which  it  is  Induced 259 

A  Lukewarm  Christian  not  a  Saved  Man 263 

Self-satistied  and  Self-secure 264 

Christians  of  our  Day 265 

lirrturc  ^rbenternti). 

Liability  to  be  Deceived 268 

Self-delusion  of  the  Laodiceans 269 

How  they  became  Self-deceived      271 

Christ's  "  Counsel  "  to  them 273 

To  Buy  of  Him 274 

Gold,  the  True  Riches 275 

White  Raiment 276 

Healing  Medicaments 276 

Buying  of  Jesus 277 

A  Blessed  Opportunity 280 

?iectuce  lEigf)teenti), 

Jesus  the  Chastener  of  His  People 282 

All  History  Attests  this 283 

Worth  of  the  Discipline  of  Suffering 283 

Prosperity  no  Evidence  of  the  Divine  Favor      285 

Chastening  a  Sign  of  the  Saviour's  Love 286 

The  Rod  applied  to  Spur  our  Zeal 287 

False  and  True  Zeal 288 

Zeal  Required 290 

Repentance  the  Great  Need 291 

No  Lack  of  Zeal  in  the  Worldly-minded 294 

Christianitv  Demands  it  Above  All 295 


14  TABLE    OF  CONTENTS. 

Eectuce  Nineteentf)» 

PAGE 

An  Afifecting  Picture  of  Christ 297 

The  True  Location  of  the  Scene 298 

Jesus  Unrecognized  by  His  Church 300 

Is  Loth  to  Abandon  His  Church 302 

His  Standing  and  Knocking 302 

This  Knocking  here  Something  Pecuhar 303 

Some  Loud  Enunciation  of  His  Presence 305 

Marked  Agitations  in  Nature 306 

His  Last  Appeal  has  a  Degree  of  Violence  in  it 307 

Symptoms  of  the  Nearing  Judgment 308 

Hectute  ClunUietf). 

Christ's  Promises  to  them  that  Open  to  Him 312 

Gradation  in  the  Promises 314 

Thrones  and  Dominion 315 

Christ's  Enthronement  with  the  Father 316 

His  Own  Throne  Distinguished 317 

The  Regency  of  the  Saints  with  Christ 318 

Destiny  of  the  Saints 320 

The  Greater  the  Glory  the  Greater  the  Conflict 321 

The  Foes  to  be  Vanquished 321 

No  Reason  for  Despair 323 

Our  Duty  to  Bid  for  the  Highest  Honors           325 

Grieving  the  Holy  Ghost 328 

God  hath  Spoken      329 

His  Word  for  All  People 330 

A  Resume  of  the  Contents  of  these  Letters 332- 

These  Things  Meant  to  be  of  Practical  Account 335 

Differences  in  Hearing 336 

All  is  Personal 337 

Individual  Responsibility 338 

Have  we  Profited  by  these  Letters 339 

Conclusion 341 


ALMIGHTY  and  Everlasting  God,  Who 
^  hatcst  nothing  that  Thou  hast  made,  and 
dost  forgive  the  sins  of  all  those  who  are  peni- 
tent; Create  and  make  in  us  new  and  contrite 
hearts,  that  we,  worthily  lamenting  our  sins 
and  acknowledging  our  wretchedness,  may  ob- 
tain of  Thee,  the  God  of  all  mercy,  perfect 
remission  and  forgiveness;  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,  Who  liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  ever  one  God,  world 
without  end.     Amen. 


15 


Thus  speaks  the  Spirit  to  the  churches  all, 
And  to  each  man  who  hath  an  ear  to  hear  : 
Whoso  o'ercometh  in  this  fell  career 

With  powers  of  earth  and  hell,  which  })roudly  call 

My  people  to  the  battle,  he  shall  fall 

Unvanquished,  and  to  his  grave  shall  bear 
The  martyr's  crown ;   victorious  rise  and  wear 

The  palm  of  jubilee.      Let  no  fears  appall 

Christ's  fellow-soldiers.     Him,  your  Captain,  view 
Upon  the  throne  of  God ;   WHio  hath  on  high 

Mansions  prepared,  and  wine  o'  th'  kingdom  new 
Upon  His  table  set ;  where  never  sigh 

Is  heard,  or  sorrow  enters.     There  shall  you 
With  Him  abide,  and  in  His  bosom  lie. 


16 


THE  LETTERS  OF  JESUS. 


ILfrturc  #irst. 

Rev.  2  :  1-4:  "Unto  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  write; 
The.se  thing.s  .saith  he  that  holdeth  the  seven  stars  in  his  right  hand, 
who  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks ;  I  know 
thy  works,  and  thy  labor,  and  thy  patience,  and  how  thou  canst  not 
bear  them  which  are  evil :  and  thou  hast  tried  them  which  say  they 
are  apostles,  and  are  not,  and  hast  found  them  liars  :  and  hast  borne, 
and  hast  patience,  and  for  my  name's  sake  hast  lalx^red,  and  hast  not 
fainted.  Nevertheless  I  have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou 
hast  left  thy  first  love."' 

HIS  is  from  the  first  in  a  series  of  sev^en 
I^etters  sent  by  the  blessed  Saviour  by  the 
hand  of  the  apostle  John  to  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia  Minor.  These  Letters  constitute 
a  unique  section  of  sacred  literature.  Like  the 
Parables,  they  consist  exclusively  of  Christ's  own 
words;  but,  unlike  the  Parables,  they  were  dic- 
tated from  lieaven  after  He  was  risen  and  glori- 
fied. They  are  perhaps  the  only  unabridged 
records  of  His  addresses  that  we  possess.  They 
are  also  so  impressively  introduced,  and  .so  par- 
ticularly addressed  to  the  churches,  as  to  imply 
2  17 


1 8  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

that  there  is  something  in  them  of  unusnal  sol- 
emnity and  importance.  They  come  to  us  with 
a  seven-times-repeated  admonition  to  hear  them, 
and  lav  them  to  heart.  As  we  have  ears  to  hear, 
we  are  commanded  to  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith 
to  the  churches. 

It  is  therefore  a  little  strange  that  there  is  not 
another  part  of  Holy  Scripture,  of  equal  promi- 
nence, to  which  the  Church  has  paid  less  atten- 
tion. The  Parables  of  Christ  are  continually 
being  brought  before  us:  the  discussions  of  them 
are  endless.  But  it  is  rarely  that  God's  people 
are  called  to  consider  these  Letters  of  Jesus^ 
though  bearing  His  own  sign-manual,  and  so 
particularly  urged  upon  the  attention  of  every 
one.  Is  this  right?  Should  we  not  be  as  anxious 
to  know  what  Jesus  has  dictated  from  heaven, 
and  has  commanded  us  to  read,  hear,  and  keep 
before  us,  as  to  know  what  He  said  in  His  dis- 
courses while  on  the  earth  ?  Is  not  the  subject- 
matter  in  these  Epistles  as  important,  practical, 
and  full  of  instruction  as  any  other  part  of  the 
New  Testament?  Why,  then,  has  there  been 
such  a  common  neglect  of  what  our  lyOrd  has 
pronounced  so  blessed  for  us  to  hear,  ponder, 
and  digest? 

On  entering,  then,  upon  a  very  solemn  portion 
of  the  Church  Year,  and  meaning  by  some  special 
services  to  bring  ourselves  into  closer  fellowship 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  1 9 

with  our  blessed  Saviour,  may  it  not  be  well  for 
us  to  occupy  these  appointments  by  reverently 
considering  what  He  has  thus  sent  to  His 
churches,  and  trying  to  gather  up  at  least  some 
of  the  precious  things  which  He  has  thus  given 
for  our  learning?  And  in  doing  so  let  us  earn- 
estly pray  God  to  open  our  hearts,  chat  we  may 
duly  understand  and  profit  by  His  holy  truth. 

In  the  passage  now  before  us  we  have  the  first 
part  of  the  Letter  to  the  Church  of  Ephesus,  from 
which  we  note — 

I.  The  description  wJiich  the  Saviour  gives  of 
Himself:  "These  things  saith  He  that  holdeth 
the  seven  stars  in  His  right  hand,  who  walketh 
in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks." 

This  refers  back  to  the  vision  described  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  where  it  is  clearh*  explained 
that  "the  seven  stars  are  the  angels  or  ministers 
of  the  seven  churches,  and  the  seven  candlesticks 
are  the  seven  churches." 

Ministers  are  stars.  They  are  so  designated 
because  they  are  God's  light-bearers,  intended  to 
shine  on  the  earth  in  the  Sun's  absence.  They 
have  their  high  station  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
dispensing  light.  They  are  not  all  of  the  same 
magnitude,  "for  one  star  differeth  from  another 
star  in  glor}^"  but  the  ofiice  of  everv  one  is  to 
give  forth  heavenly  illumination. 

The  business  of  a  star  is  to  shine,  to  give  out 


20  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

lio-ht;  and  that  of  a  minister  is  the  same.  A 
preacher  or  bishop  who  does  not  preach,  or  whose 
sermons  enlighten  no  one,  may  be  a  minister  of 
man's  manufactnre,  but  surely  not  a  star  made  of 
God.  Stars  are  of  no  conceivable  use  to  us  except 
as  they  give  light.  They  may  be  very  big  bodies, 
have  very  large  circuits,  fill  an  immense  amount 
of  space,  and  be  as  heavy  and  ponderous  as  the 
sun  itself,  but  if  they  give  no  light  and  have  no 
power  to  illuminate,  they  might  as  well  not  be, 
so  far  as  respects  us.  They  only  fill  up  room 
which  might  be  better  occupied.  And  it  is  well 
for  us  all  to  bear  in  mind  that  as  stars  are  made 
to  shine,  so  all  ministers  must  be  light-bearers 
and  light-givers. 

These  stars  are  i)i  Christ^ s  right  hajtd.  He 
upholds  them.  They  are  His  agents  and  instru- 
ments to  carr}^  and  in;part  the  heavenly  light  of 
life  and  salvation  to  benighted  man.  He  calls, 
directs,  and  sends  them.  They  have  their  high 
and  beneficent  office  from  Him.  And  they  de- 
pend on  Him  for  their  place  and  for  the  light 
they  give. 

The  candlesticks  are  the  churches,  because  it  is 
the  office  of  the  churches  to  hold  up  that  which 
gives  out  the  light.  People  may  have  candle- 
sticks for  mere  ornaments,  displays  of  rich  ma- 
terial and  handiwork,  specimens  of  beautiful 
forms  and  elegant  chasing;  but  that  i^  not  the 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  21 

true  use  of  caudlesticks.  Candlesticks  are  meant 
to  hold  candles,  to  support  lights.  The  truest 
and  best  candlestick  is  that  which  best  supports 
a  candle.  What  we  want  in  it  is  a  secure  holder 
— one  that  will  stand  steady  and  remain  firm — one 
that  will  receive  and  support  a  candle,  that  we  may 
see  by  its  light.  We  do  not  judge  ic  so  much  by 
its  pattern,  its  material,  or  the  labor  that  has  been 
bestowed  upon  it  as  by  the  completeness  with 
which  it  answers  its  purpose.  When  a  letter 
reaches  us  in  the  night-time,  and  we  are  anxious 
to  know  its  contents,  what  care  w^e  whether  the 
candlestick  is  gold  or  brass  or  clay,  only  so  that 
it  holds  the  light  by  which  to  see  to  read  ?  And 
so  it  does  not  so  much  matter  as  to  the  material 
and  organization  of  a  church.  The  best  is  that 
which  best  sustains  the  truth  and  best  gives  out 
the  saving  light. 

Now,  the  description  which  Christ  here  gives 
of  Himself  is,  that  He  walks  in  the  midst  of  these 
candlesticks :  "  These  things  saith  He  who  walk- 
eth  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks.'' 

When  on  earth  He  said,  "Wherever  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there 
am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  From  this  we  see 
that  it  does  not  take  a  great  building,  a  grand 
cathedral,  or  a  large  assembly  of  people  to  make 
a  church.      It  mav  be  well  to  have  good  accom- 


22  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

inodations  and  strong  congregations;  bnt,  no  mat- 
ter how  humble  the  place  or  small  the  assembly, 
two  or  three  united  in  faith  and  joining  together 
for  the  confession  and  service  of  Jesus  are  church 
enough  to  attract  the  Saviour's  presence;  and 
there  He  is  "in  the  midst  of  them"  as  much 
and  as  really  as  in  the  grandest  assembly.  His 
disciples  may  be  interested  in  "the  great  stones 
of  the  temple,"  but  the  Master's  attention  is  on 
something  more  noble  and  more  enduring.  His 
eyes  are  on  the  "  living  stones  "  and  how  they  are 
disposed.  While  men  are  admiring  the  archi- 
tectural splendors.  He  is  noticing  the  poor  widow 
with  her  mite  and  the  soul-sick  publican  smiting 
his  breast  and  saying,  "God  be  merciful  to  me  a 
sinner!"  Piles  of  stones  or  rocks  stationed  as  if 
bursted  upward  into  granite  blossoms  are  not  the 
things  which  most  attract  our  blessed  Saviour. 
Far  more  is  He  interested  in  the  gathering  of  the 
people  in  His  name,  even  though  it  be  in  some 
cold  barn  or  lowly  hovel.  Wherever  His  people 
come  together  for  holy  worship,  there  He  is.  By 
His  word  and  promises  and  Spirit  and  grace  He 
is  with  them,  to  hear  their  prayers  and  to  dispense 
His  mercies.  And  thus  He  walks  amid  all  the 
golden  candlesticks  the  world  over,  present  wher- 
ever His  name  is  called  and  His  Gospel  sounded. 
And,  being  present  with  His  churches.  He  ob- 
serves and  notes  all  that  is  going  on  in  them  and 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  EPHESUS. 


23 


all  that  pertains  to  His  people.  "/  kiunv  thy 
works^'  is  what  He  here  says  of  Himself.  Noth- 
ing escapes  Him.  Every  individual  is  held  in  full 
survey.  He  sees  the  private  walk,  the  deeds  of 
worship,  the  heart  of  devotion.  He  beholds  the 
Pharisee  in  his  pride,  the  publican  in  his  humil- 
ity; the  rich  casting  into  the  treasury  of  their 
abundance,  and  the  poor  offering  of  their  narrow 
means.  He  would  have  the  church  of  Bphesus 
understand  that  He  knew  it  thorouo^hlv — all  its 
works,  its  labor  of  love,  its  hatred  of  evil,  its  suf- 
ferings, its  patience,  its  strength,  and  its  weak- 
ness. He  has  "eyes  like  a  flame  of  fire,"  which 
penetrate  all  hearts  and  all  lives,  which  look  into 
the  inmost  recesses  of  the  soul,  and  to  which  all 
things  are  naked  and  open.  He  knoweth  the 
proud  afar  off.  He  looks  through  all  masks  and 
all  disguises.  No  one  can  cloak  or  dissemble  so 
as  to  impose  on  Him  or  deceive  Him.  There  is 
not  a  thought  in  the  heart,  but,  lo!  He  knoweth 
it  altogether.  He  knows  who  we  are  and  what 
we  are,  and  what  we  have  been  doing,  and  with 
what  sort  of  mind  and  temper  we  are  now  in  His 
presence.  "  His  eyes  behold  the  works,  His  eye- 
lids try  the  thoughts  of  the  children  of  men." 

Nor  is  there  a  heart  upon  which  the  eye  of 
Jesus  is  not  fully  set  the  same  as  if  it  were  the 
only  heart  in  the  world.  If  any  one's  thoughts 
are  wandering,  preoccupied  with  other  than  sacred 


24  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

things,  dwelling  on  all  but  what  has  brought  us 
together,  or  calculating  about  this  or  that,  unen- 
listed  in  the  things  that  are  being  said  of  the 
blessed  Jesus,  busy,  but  not  with  the  spirit  of 
worship  and  honest  desire  to  come  nearer  to  God, 
He  is  observing  it  and  knows  it  better  than  that 
soul  itself  Whoever  else  is  absent,  Christ  is  here, 
for  He  walks  in  the  midst  of  the  candlesticks,  and 
there  is  never  a  moment's  suspension  of  that  all- 
penetrating  omniscience  with  which  He  is  con- 
templating every  one  of  us  here  or  elsewhere. 
No  matter  what  is  uppermost  in  our  thoughts, 
feelings,  or  wishes,  what  we  have  been  or  what 
we  now  are,  Jesus  knows  it  all.  If  we  have  come 
hither  to-day  with  true  heart  and  a  right  spirit, 
He  beholds  it,  and  His  favor  and  blessing  go  out 
to  the  soul  that  is  seeking  Him  and  is  desirous  to 
honor  Him.  If  prayer  and  sorrow  for  sin  and 
penitential  longing  for  His  mercy  and  grace  be 
in  our  hearts,  He  observes  it  and  encourages  and 
fans  it  with  His  promises  and  Spirit.  If  the  tear 
has  silently  gathered  in  the  eye  or  fallen  in  regret 
over  follies  past;  if  the  heart  has  quickened  its 
beating  over  the  pain  felt  for  the  wrongs  and  un- 
charities  by  which  the  life  has  been  marred  and- 
stained;  if  the  soul  is  swollen  in  the  bosom  and 
heaving  out  sighs  to  be  freed  from  the  condemna- 
tion we  have  deserved, — there  is  nothing  quicker 
in  an  angel's  wing  or  in  the  lightning's  flash  than 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  25 

the  speed  with  which  this  is  telephoned  to  the  ear 
and  nnderstanding-  of  the  divine  Saviour.  To 
every  one  His  word  is  "/  Jznow  thy  works ;'^^  and 
neither  we  nor  angels  can  tell  Him  any  thing  about 
ourselves  which  He  does  not  see  and  know.  Our 
sorrows  which  we  may  not  tell,  our  trials  which 
no  other  knoweth,  our  difficulties,  our  hardships, 
the  woes  and  aches  that  lie  buried  in  our  souls, 
our  weaknesses  and  heart-struggles,  our  hidden 
fears  and  doubts,  our  honesty  in  things  for  which 
others  blame  and  censure,  our  real  motives  and 
endeavors  which  others  do  not  understand, — all 
are  known  to  the  loving  Saviour,  who  can  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmity,  and 
bids  us  be  of  good  comfort,  that  His  grace  shall 
be  sufficient  for  us.  There  is  no  child  of  His 
unnoticed  or  on  whom  His  loving  eye  does  not 
rest,  to  look  subduingly  upon  the  Peters  that  deny 
Him,  to  speak  consolingly  to  the  Marys  that  weep 
over  their  sins,  to  note  the  secret  devotions  of  the 
Nathaniels  under  the  fig  tree,  to  commend  the 
faith  of  the  bowed  and  crippled  ones  who  struggle 
amid  the  jostling  crowd  that  they  may  but  touch 
the  hem  of  His  garment. 

Note, 

II.    What  Jesus  sazv  in  these  church-people  of 

Ephesus. 

We  learn  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  how 
thev  had  been  oathered  and  formed  into  a  Chris- 


26  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

tiaii  congregation — how  Paul,  passing  through  the 
upper  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  came  to  Ephe- 
sus,   and  found  there  some  twelve  Christian  be- 
lievers, refugees  from  the  murderous  persecutions 
which  the  malignant  Jews  were  waging  against 
those   of  this  faith  in  Palestine.     God  overrules 
the   v/rath    of    men    to    His   own    praise.      Many 
churches  had  their  first  beginning  through   the 
fuofitives  who  were  thus  driven  awav  from  their 
own  countr)^  on  account  of  their  faith  in  Christ. 
Those  whom  Paul  found  at  Ephesus  became  the 
nucleus  for  the  great  and  honored  congregation  at 
that  place.     They  were  the  first  materials  in  the 
formation  of  that  candlestick  for  the  upholding 
of  the  light  of  the  Gospel  amid  the  heathen  dark- 
ness of  Diana's  worshippers.     And  with  the  apos- 
tle Paul  as  their  minister  and  champion,  whose 
hands  and   ministrations  they  did  everything  to 
uphold,   great   progress  for  the  truth  was  made. 
Turned  out  of  the    synagogue   of  the  Jews,    to 
which  he  first  went  and  preached  Jesus  and  the 
resurrection,   they  procured  the  use  of  a  school- 
house  of  one  Tyrannus,   where  Paul  went  daily 
preaching  and  arguing  with  all  comers,  and  con- 
vincing and  persuading  many  by  his  arguments, 
his  testimony,  and  his  miracles.     And  thus  the 
church  of  Ephesus  was  established. 
;      It  is  claimed  by  some  that  Timothy  was  its  first 
bishop,  but  there  certainly  were  a  number  of  other 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  2/ 

overseers  or  bishops  with  him,   whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  made  overseers  of  that  church. 

It  was  a  highly  favored  church.     Having  had  i 
Paul   for  its  tounder,  the  venerable  apostle  Johnj 
spent  his  last  years  in  close  association  with  it.l 
It  had  great  privileges,  and  it  had  greatly  profited 
by  them.      It   is  always  well  when  people  gladly 
hear  the  truth  and  live  up  to  it. 

The  church  at  Ephesus  was  a  devoted  and  act- 
ive church.  He  who  walks  amid  the  golden  can- 
dlesticks saw  their  '' ivorksy  True  Christian 
faith  and  devotion  always  bring  forth  good  works. 
Idle  and  do-nothing  Christians  are  of  but  little 
worth  to  themselves  or  to  the  world,  and  their 
Christianity  is  of  a  very  doubtful  sort.  It  is 
not  said  what  these  "works  and  labors"  were, 
but  we  can  easily  infer  them  from  accounts 
elsewhere. 

The  people  were  in  earnest  in  their  religion, 
and  did  everything  in  their  power  to  make  con- 
verts to  it.  They  upheld  and  helped  Paul  in  all 
his  efforts  to  the  full  extent  of  their  ability.  They 
filled  their  places  with  heart  and  energy,  and  were 
zealous  for  the  cause.  They  worked  together  for 
the  same  end.  They  exemplified  what  they  pro- 
fessed and  believed.  They  were  Ephcsians  in  the 
real  sense  of  that  word— full  of  ardor,  warm  and 
fervent  in  their  zeal  and  activity  for  the  Gospel 
and  the  brino-iuq;  of  men  to  embrace  and  share  the 


28  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

blessedness  of  it.  All  this  is  necessarily  implied 
in  what  is  written,  that  "  the  word  of  God  might- 
ily grew  and  prevailed."  And  this  the  Saviour 
knew,  remarked  on,  and  commended. 

They  also  had  much  ''^ patience y  Twice  does 
the  Saviour  refer  to  their  patience.  They  w^ere 
not  dispirited,  put  out,  and  made  to  hold  back  be- 
cause things  did  not  go  just  to  their  mind.  They 
were  slandered  by  the  Jews  and  persecuted  by  the 
heathen,  but  they  held  on  to  their  faith  and  didr 
not  falter  in  their  endeavors.  Trade  unions  rosel 
up  to  drive  them  out  of  the  city,  but  they  stood  I 
firm  for  the  Gospel.  They  had  to  bear  all  sor*ts^ 
of  taunts,  calumny,  and  ill-treatment  on  account 
of  their  faith  and  zeal,  but  they  did  not  retaliate 
nor  give  over  on  that  account.  They  were/<7- 
tient — patient  in  bearing  contumely,  patient  in 
waiting  God's  time  and  will  in  all  things,  patient 
in  holding  on  and  working  on,  oppressive  and 
hard  as  the  situation  was.  They  knew  for  Whom 
they  were  working,  and  the  great  interest  to  the 
community  and  the  souls  of  men  the  establishing 
a  strong  Christian  church  in  Ephesus  would  be, 
and  they  were  not  to  be  diverted  from  their  fixed 
and  steady  purpose,  glad  to  do  and  suffer  in  such 
a  cause.  And  for  this  Jesus  praised  and  com- 
mended them. 

Great  efforts  were  made  to  corrupt  them  against 
the  truth.     Wicked   men   got   among  them,    but 


TO    THE    Cia'RCII   OF  EPHESUS.  29 

they  cast  them  out.  When  tliey  could  not  be 
moved  by  opposition  and  persecution,  hypocritical 
pretensions  and  deceit  were  brought  into  requi- 
sition. IMen  came  insinuating  ill  things  against 
Paul  as  not  an  apostle,  but  an  impostor,  and 
others  came  claiming  to  be  the  true  apostles  and 
the  only  true  teachers  of  religion.  Deceivers 
sought  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  them,  that 
they  might  pervert  their  minds  and  turn  them 
from  the  truth.  But  they  did  not  take  everything 
for  granted  that  people  said.  They  were  careful 
to  know  where  things  came  from  and  who  those 
were  who  came  with  these  tales  and  novelties. 
They  tried  them  which  said  they  were  apostles 
and  were  not,  and  found  them  liars,  and  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  them.  These  bland- 
faced  whisperers,  who  know  so  much  and  are 
always  retailing  insinuations  of  what  they  have 
heard  to  the  discredit  of  good  people,  found  no 
favor  with  these  Ephesian  Christians.  And  for 
this  also  the  Saviour  eulogized  and  commended 
them. 

These  Ephesian  Christians  were  further  charac- 
terized by  great  fervency  of  love.  This  was  es- 
pecially the  case  in  their  early  history.  "Adver- 
sity makes  strange  bedfellows, "  and  companionship 
in  common  calamities  and  hard  misfortunes  tends 
to  unite  souls  very  closeh'  that  otherwise  would 
never  be  brought  together.     The  first  members  of 


30  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

this  church  were  all  persecuted  exiles,  driven  away 
from  their  homes  and  country  because  of  their 
faith,  and  as  fellow-sufferers  in  the  same  holy 
cause  they  were  very  close  in  their  intimacy  and 
warm  in  their  mutual  sympathy  and  regard,  which 
became  one  of  the  particular  features  of  the  orig- 
inal church  of  Bphesus. 

But  their  love  and  interest  in  one  another  were 
only  the  reflection  of  a  still  more  ardent  love  to 
Jesus  and  His  truth.  Had  it  not  been  so  they 
never  would  have  abandoned  home,  friends,  and 
possessions  in  their  own  land  to  take  the  place  of 
fugitives  and  refugees  in  a  strange  and  corrupt 
heathen  city.  Their  religion  was  not  fashion. 
They  were  Christians,  not  from  custom  or  be- 
cause it  was  a  reputable  thing  with  those  whose 
good  opinion  they  prized.  They  were  Christians 
from  honest  conviction,  from  genuine  principle, 
and  were  ready  to  forsake  father  and  mother, 
houses  and  lands,  and  to  become  strangers  and 
pilgrims  on  the  earth,  out  of  pure  love  and  de- 
votion to  that  blessed  Saviour  who  left  heaven 
and  died  on  the  cross  for  them,  and  had  sealed 
them  by  His  Holy  Spirit  of  promise  unto  eternal 
redemption.  Nor  does  anything  so  enlist,  please, 
and  gratify  our  glorious  Lord  as  to  behold  such 
devotion  in  His  followers  and  children.  "I  love 
them  that  love  me"  is  His  saying  of  old,  and  His 
heart  ever  softens  toward  those  whose  hearts  are 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  3 1 

warm  and  zealous  toward  Him.  It  is  indeed  a 
beautiful  thing  to  love  Jesus,  and  a  very  uncomely 
and  wacked  thing  not  to  be  moved  with  affection- 
ate gratitude  to  Him  wdio  has  so  loved  us  and 
done  so  much  for  us.  And  as  these  Ephesians 
loved  ardently,  Jesus  noted  it  and  commended 
them  for  it. 

Well-doing  and  worth  deserve  acknowledgment 
and  commendation,  and  the  withholding  of  these 
when  due  is  not  according  to  Christ.    Even  though 
all  good  in  His  people  is  from  His  grace,  and  none 
of  it  could  be  without  Him  and  the  helping  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  when  they  thus  improve  under 
His  merciful  dealings  He  gives  them  credit  for  it, 
and  expresses  His  pleasure  and   approval.     Bad 
men  often  flatter  and  praise  as  a  lure   to  those 
whom  the}'  wish  to  win  to  their  favor  or  influence 
to  their  own  selfish  ends.     They  know  the  power 
of  praise,   and   they  dishonestly  use  it.     This  is 
despicable.     Good  people  are  apt  to  err  on  the 
other  side,  and  are  strangely  chary  and  neglectful 
in  the  use  of  this  power.     Whether  it  be  to  gain 
the  respect  and  affection  of  others,  the  moulding 
of   their  desires,   the  guiding  of  their  will,   the 
cure  of  their  faults,  or  the  strengthening  of  their 
activities  in    what  is   good,   almost   every  other 
means    is    preferred   to   that   of    commendation. 
Aro-ument,  advice,   admonition,  warning,  and  es- 
pecially  rebuke,  censure,  and  complaint,  are  lib- 


32  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

erally  used ;  but  words  of  approval  and  esteem  are 
carefully  withheld  or  grudgingly  doled  forth,  as 
if  some  hidden  danger  lurked  in  them.  The 
example  of  Christ  was  different.  Even  in  this 
world  of  sin  and  , sinners  He  still  found  some 
things  to  commend  and  praise;  and  in  here 
speaking  from  heaven  it  is  the  same. 

Dishonest  praise  is  wickedness.  It  is  base  in 
him  who  gives  it  and  evil  to  him  to  whom  it  is 
given.  But  candid,  truthful,  and  liberal  acknow- 
ledgment and  commendation  of  what  is  right  and 
good  is  a  blessed  inspiration  both  in  the  giver  and 
the  receiver.  It  draws  them  together.  It  freshens 
and  stimulates  effort.  It  begets  mutual  confidence 
and  multiplies  strength.  It  opens  a  community 
of  feelino;  and  interest  which  makes  correction 
of  faults  easy,  serves  to  correct  despondency  and 
faintness,  and  tends  to  encourage,  cheer,  and  re- 
inforce. To  assure  others  of  your  good  opinion 
if  they  can  trust  your  sincerity  and  truthfulness 
animates  them  to  increased  effort  to  justify  your 
favorable  regard,  and  it  helps  to  build  up  love, 
good-will,  and  virtue.  It  is  right,  and  it  is  use- 
ful. It  helps  to  allay  the  envious  and  bad  in  hu- 
man nature  and  to  bring  out  and  foster  the  good. 
It  is  a  happiness  in  itself,  and  it  gives  happiness. 
What  a  comfort  and  inspiration  was  it  to  these 
Ephesians,  whatever  there  was  in  them  to  be  cor- 
rected, to  be  thus  commended  by  the  vSaviour  for 


TO    TJIE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  33 

SO  many  things!  How  nuicli  more  courageously 
would  they  now  exert  themselves  to  repair  what 
was  defective,  that  they  miglit  stand  thus  approved 
in  all  things!  iVnd  if  we  could  but  know  what 
failing  energies  may  be  refreshed,  what  languor 
chased  away,  what  hope  and  enthusiasm  inspired, 
and  what  love  and  confidence  begotten  by  our 
words  of  honest,  cordial  praise,  we  would  not  be 
so  backward  in  our  expressions  of  them. 

But,  as  in  all  cases  in  this  world,  these  people 
were  not  perfect.  With  all  their  virtues,  they  had 
their  faults  and  failings,  which  honest  love  could 
not  omit  to  mention  and  disapprove,  that  effort 
might  be  made  to  supply  what  was  wanting. 
With  all  the  Saviour's  commendations  of  them,^ 
He  still  found  it  necessary  to  say  to  them,  ^''Nev-\ 
ertheless^  I  have  somezvhat  against  thee y 

There  is  no  such  thing  on  earth  as  a  perfect 
man,  a  perfect  woman,  or  a  perfect  society  made 
up  of  men  and  women.  Such  a  thing  as  a  perfect ; 
church,  in  which  there  are  no  weaknesses,  no  de- 
fective members,  no  faulty  administrations,  no 
backslidings,  no  unworthy  people,  does  not  ex- 
ist. Some  churches  are  much  better  and  nearer 
right  than  others,  but  none  are  full  up  to  the 
standard  of  perfection.  In  this  world  the  Church 
is  always  and  everywhere  a  mixed  society,  with 
mingled  excellencies  and  faults.  Even  where  the 
graces  of  the  Spirit  are  the  most  active  and  the 
3 


34  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS.  . 

most  fully  developed,  and  people  are  most  devoted 
and  earnest,  and  the  work  of  the  Lord  goes  on 
with  the  greatest  success,  when  the  eye  of  the 
holy  Jesus  comes  to  survey  the  situation  He  al- 
ways has  plenty  of  occasion  to  say,  ^^ Nevertheless^ 
I  have  sojnewhat  agamst  thee. ' ' 

And  it  is  the  same  with  individuals  as  with 
I  churches  and  congregations.  We  may  think  that 
we  are  all  right,  that  we  are  doing  nobly,  that  we 
have  been  very  watchful,  prayerful,  true,  devoted, 
and  prompt  in  every  known  duty ;  but  when  Jesus 
comes  to  give  His  judgment,  even  while  there  is 
much  for  Him  to  commend  and  praise.  He  still 
in  truth  and  justice  must  add,  ^^ Nevertheless^  I 
have  so7newhat  against  theey 

Nay,  if  we  only  look  carefully  into  ourselves, 
our  ways  of  living  and  doing,  how  we  are  hand- 
ling ourselves,  talents,  possessions,  hearts,  and 
lives — how  we  are  bearing  and  disposing  our- 
selves respecting  Christian  duty  and  privilege, 
and  what  sort  of  progress  we  have  been  making 
in  the  divine  life  and  usefulness, — we  will  be  at 
no  loss  to  find  that  Jesus,  who  knows  and  sees  all, 
would  needs  have  to  say  even  of  the  best,  ^''Nev- 
ertheless^ I  have  someivhat  agamst  thee^ 

The  great  fault  Christ  found  with  these  people 
was  the  decay  of  their  first  love.  They  were  good 
and  earnest  Christians  still,  but  they  had  too  much 
cooled  in  their  ardor  and  let  down  in  the  fervency 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  35 

of  their  former  zeal  and  devotion.  There  was  still 
the  outward  ongoing  of  effort  and  activity,  and 
much  to  be  praised;  but  love  was  dying.  The 
machinery  still  moved  under  the  power  of  the 
original  impulse,  but  the  great  moving  spirit 
within  was  losing  its  force.  The  outside  of  the 
tree  stood  fair  and  well-proportioned  as  ever,  but 
mould  and  decay  had  commenced  within.  A  pure 
creed  and  a  right  discipline  still  remained,  but  the 
heart  was  growing  cold.  The  Saviour  saw  how  it 
was  with  them,  and  spoke  accordingly. 

And  what,  dear  friends,  does  Christ's  all-search- 
ing eye  behold  in  us  with  reference  to  this  point? 
Has  there  been  no  wane  in  our  love  and  zeal  since 
first  we  gave  ourselves  to  Jesus  ?  Are  we  as  much 
interested  in  the  things  of  God  and  the  soul  as 
once  ?  Are  we  as  prompt  and  earnest  in  our  pri- 
vate devotions  and  attendance  on  the  means  of 
grace  as  aforetime?  Do  we  have  the  same  low 
opinion  of  the  vanities,  pursuits,  honors,  and 
pleasures  of  this  world  as  when  we  first  set  out 
to  serve  the  Lord  ?  Are  we  as  strict  and  particu- 
lar in  holding  on  to  the  truth  or  word  of  God, 
and  as  confident  in  venturing  our  trust  and  hopes 
upon  it,  as  at  some  other  time  we  could  mention  ? 
Are  we  as  devoted  to  the  Church  and  as  anxious 
and  earnest  and  prayerful  to  build  it  up  and  to 
foster  the  spirit  of  peace,  harmony,  and  love,  as 
once?     Ah    me!    in    how    many    instances    may 


36  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

awakened  conscience  catch  the  words  of  the  lov- 
ing Jesus,  sadly  whispering,  "My  child,  my  dear 
child,  thou  hast  borne  and  hast  patience  for  my 
name's  sake,  and  hast  labored,  and  hast  not 
fainted.  Nevertheless^  I  have  somewhat  against 
theeP' 

lyct  us  think  on  these  things. 


iLcdurc  g>eco«lJ. 

Rev.  2:5:  "  Remember  therefore  from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and 
repent,  and  do  the  first  works ;  or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly, 
and  will  remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place,  except  thou  repent." 

E  have  remarked  upon  the  solemn  fact 
that  He  who  walks  amid  the  golden 
candlesticks  and  whose  eyes  are  like 
flames  of  fire  sees  and  knows  the  works,  cha- 
racter, and  spiritual  condition  of  all  His  churches 
and  of  every  member  in  each.  What  is  good, 
what  is  bad,  what  is  improving  and  what  is  ail- 
ing, what  is  wanting  and  what  is  failing, — all  is 
naked  and  open  to  His  searching  view,  and  no 
concealment  can  hide  anything.  If  there  is  good, 
earnestness,  and  sincerity  in  any  one.  He  notices 
that  good  and  commends  it. 

There  was  much  that  was  favorable  in  this 
church  of  Ephesus,  and  this  is  duly  credited. 
But  there  were  unfavorable  symptoms  also,  and 
of  a  dangerous  sort,  and  these  are  likewise  pointed 
out  for  special  attention  and  amendment,  lest  they 
should  work  ruin  to  the  whole  spiritual  life  of 
those  concerned. 

The  particular  defect  was  that  these  people  had 

37 


38  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

^^  left  their  first  lovey  It  is  remarkable  that  this 
should  happen  in  a  church  so  eminent  for  its  at- 
tainments, and  standing  at  the  head  of  all  the 
churches  of  its  time  for  activity,  force,  zeal,  and 
devotion  to  the  truth.  Here  was  a  congregation 
in  which  Paul  had  labored  long  and  successfully, 
to  which  he  had  addressed  an  Epistle  finding  no 
cause  for  censure  or  evils  to  be  corrected,  over 
which  Timothy  had  presided  as  chief  pastor,  and 
in  the  midst  of  which  the  beloved  disciple  dwelt 
in  his  later  years,  joining  in  its  assemblies  to  the 
last,  and  often  exhorting  its  members  to  faith  and 
love.  And  yet  it  had  so  declined  in  spiritual  life 
and  devotion  that  Christ  had  to  make  this  serious 
charge  against  it  even  while  the  apostle  John  still 
lived. 

We  thus  see  what  a  frail  and  fickle  thing  human 
nature  is — how  little  dependence  is  to  be  placed 
upon  it  even  at  the  best — how  ineffectual  the 
highest  opportunities  are  to  guarantee  stability 
of  religious  character  and  devotion — how  liable 
the  most  distinguished  attainments  to  decay  and 
disappear.  Most  of  the  same  people  who  were  in 
this  church  from  the  beginning  were  in  it  still, 
but  it  was  now  for  the  loving  Saviour  to  say,  "  I 
have  somewhat  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  left 
thy  first  lovey 

These  people  were  not  in  a  state  of  apostasy. 
There  still  was  much  activity,  zeal  for  evangelic 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  39 

truth,  earnest  adherence  to  apostolic  order,  hatred 
of  error  and  unrighteousness,  and  regard  for  pur- 
ity of  life.  But  all  this  may  exist,  and  yet  a  hid- 
den canker  be  eating  away  what  no  orthodoxy,  no 
faith,  no  knowledge,  no  good  works,  no  labor  or 
patience  in  well-doing  could  atone  for.  It  was 
still  a  decent,  orderly,  vigorous,  exemplary,  and 
efficient  church.  Its  external  presentations  were 
all  good.  But  there  was  inward  weakening  in 
that  ver}'  thing  which  is  most  essential — in  that 
living  love  and  fellowship  of  the  soul  with  its 
Redeemer  which  is  the  life  of  all  true  piety. 
The  body  stood  the  same  as  before,  but  the  mer- 
cury within  had  fallen.  The  machinery  was  still 
running,  but  the  motive-power  was  failing.  It 
was  still  the  best  of  all  the  seven  churches  named, 
but  it  was  at  heart  in  a  state  of  decline.  Affec- 
tion was  cooling,  zeal  was  abating.  The  inward 
fire  of  love  was  wasting  away.  A  degeneration 
had  set  in  which  needed  to  be  arrested  and  reme- 
died. 

These  people  still  held  firmly  to  the  confession 
of  the  truth.  They  had  religious  knowledge  and 
principle.  They  were  true  to  what  they  had  been 
taught,  and  held  on  commendably  to  it  against  all 
who  encroached  upon  it  either  in  doctrine  or  in 
life.  They  were  still  in  many  respects  model 
Christians  of  the  higher  class.  But  the  heart  was 
not  so  deep  in  the   matter  as   formerly.      They 


40  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

could  still  withstand  the  terrors  of  persecution 
by  the  confidence  and  might  of  prayer,  but  those 
prayers  had  become  less  frequent,  less  ardent,  and 
less  confiding;  their  devotions  more  a  matter  of 
course  than  from  inward  desire  to  be  in  commu- 
nion with  Jesus;  their  religion  more  intellectual 
perhaps,  but  having  less  heart.  They  were  still 
honored  examples  of  the  regenerating  grace  of 
God,  and  honored  witnesses  for  the  Gospel  in  the 
midst  of  a  powerful  heathenism;  but  the  world 
had  imperceptibly  been  insinuating  itself  between 
them  and  the  Saviour,  and,  perhaps  without  know- 
ing it  themselves,  they  had  lapsed  from  their  first 
love. 

Nor  was  this  a  peculiar  or  uncommon  case. 
Too  many  Christians,  alas !  know  from  melan- 
choly experience  what  it  is  to  sink  away  from  the 
fervors  of  a  first  devotion.  Many  can  refer  to 
times  when  they  knew  something  of  the  happi- 
ness of  entire  consecration  and  full  communion 
with  Heaven — when  the  heart  was  withdrawn 
from  everything  temporal  and  fixed  in  undoubt- 
ing  faith  upon  Jesus — when  they  felt  in  the  very 
newness  and  wonder  of  their  emotions  and  re- 
solves a  proud  confidence  that  nothing  could  ever 
remove  them  from  an  estate  so  blessed.  But  they 
have  since  found  out  how  that  life  and  joy  could 
evaporate  and  pass  aw^ay — how  the  care  and  love 
for  other  things  insensibly  stole  in  upon  the  soul, 


TO    Tin-:    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  4 1 

SO  that  the  bitter  waters  again  filtered  into  tlieir 
old  channels,  the  chains  again  tightened  npon  the 
neck,  and  a  drag  formed  upon  the  heart,  until  all 
former  liberty  and  confidence  was  undermined, 
the  old  slavery  renewed,  and  first  love  diminished 
and  gone.  Christ  Himself  has  told  us  of  some 
who  hear  the  word,  and  anon  with  joy  receive  it, 
yet  after  a  while  lapse  into  their  old  folly  and  un- 
concern. Ah,  dear  friends,  we  know  of  too  many 
such  cases.  We  can  point  out  numbers  of  them 
by  name  among  ourselves.  From  the  beginning 
the  Saviour  said  it  would  be  so.  And  such  a  frail 
and  inconstant  thing  is  human  nature  that  I  doubt 
if  one  of  us  has  been  without  some  experience  of 
just  what  the  Saviour  here  alleged  against  these 
Ephesians. 

It  is  an  easy  thing  to  grow  sluggish  and  indif- 
ferent in  religious  things,  even  when  there  has 
been  a  good  and  honest  start  and  while  there  is 
no  thought  of  backsliding.  The  truths  once  so 
bright  and  quickening  to  the  soul  are  liable  to 
become  soiled  by  handling,  and  thus  to  lose  their 
freshness  and  powder.  The  natural  heart,  which 
still  stirs  within,  is  ever  pleading  for  more  liberal 
ideas  and  for  less  strictness  than  conscience  at  first 
so  clearly  dictated.  The  cares  and  anxieties  of 
life  make  such  heavy  demands  on  our  time  and 
energy  that  religious  duties  are  crowded  into  the 
background   and  punctuality  in   attending  upon 


42  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

them  is  invaded  and  excused.  Prayer  and  medi- 
tation on  sacred  things  are  narrowed  to  very  feeble 
and  uncertain  limits.  Bible  reading  and  study 
become  irregular  and  much  hindered.  Self-in- 
dulgence and  carnal  ease  and  pleasure  sue  for 
relaxation  in  the  continual  pressure  which  the 
burdens  of  business  impose.  A  little  yielding 
here  and  there  seems  to  be  necessarv,  and  is  so 
much  more  agreeable.  And  so,  without  intend- 
ing it,  and  thinking  all  the  while  of  keeping  on 
good  terms  with  conscience,  people  get  upon  the 
downward  plane  before  they  are  aware  of  it,  and 
finally  awake,  if  they  ever  awake  at  all,  to  find 
themselves  drifted  far  away  from  what  they  started 
to  become  and  from  what  they  once  were.  They 
have  left  their  first  love. 

WHAT   IS  TO  BE   DONE   IN  SUCH   A   CASE? 

The  Saviour  prescribed  for  these  people  of 
Kphesus,  and  what  He  said  to  them  applies 
equally  to  ourselves.  Truth  is  not  a  thing  of 
one  century,  which  becomes  a  cipher  or  a  false- 
hood in  the  next,  or  which  varies  with  latitude 
and  longitude.  Truth  is  like  its  God — the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  What  was  truth 
at  Ephesus  is  truth  also  in  Philadelphia.  Where 
the  same  disease  exists,  there  the  one  and  un- 
changeable remedy  is  requisite.  And  the  word 
here  vSpoken  to  the  Christians  of  Ephesus  is  a  leaf 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  43 

from  the  tree  of  life  which  needs  to  be  applied  in 
every  case  where  love  is  dying. 

The  prescription  given  is  made  up  of  three 
items,  and  each  of  them  of  great  importance. 

The  first  item  is,  ' '  Remember  therefore  fro?n 
whence  thoti  art  fallen. ' '  This  calls  for  retro- 
spection and  the  exercise  of  memory.  True  piety 
brings  all  our  faculties  into  action.  It  is  one  of 
man's  powers  to  be  able  to  look  back  and  to  live 
the  events  and  course  of  his  life  over  again  by 
means  of  memory.  And  this  power  is  the  first 
thing  to  be  set  to  work  to  cure  a  decay  of  relig- 
ious life  and  fervor.  People  must  think  back  and 
compare  what  they  once  were  with  what  they  now 
are.  Memory  must  recall  the  past  that  it  may  be 
laid  alongside  of  the  present. 

When  the  apostle  wished  to  bring  the  Jewish 
Christians  to  a  firm  and  continuous  steadfastness 
in  the  faith,  he  bade  them  "call  to  remembrance 
the  former  days,  in  which,  after  they  were  illu- 
minated, they  endured  a  great  fight  of  afflictions, 
and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  goods, 
knowing  that  they  had  in  heaven  a  better  and 
more  enduring  substance"  (Heb.  10:32).  The 
Saviour  did  the  same  wnth  reference  to  these 
people  of  the  church  of  Ephesus;  and  so  it 
must  be  with  us  all. 

Consult  your  memory,  then,  as  to  how  it  was 
with  vou  aforetime.      Call  to  mind  how  it  was 


44  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

when  you  made  )^our  first  start  in  Christianity — 
what  adoring  love  and  gratitude  you  felt  toward 
the  merciful  Saviour  who  snatched  you  as  a  brand 
from  the  burning — what  fervor,  what  zeal,  what 
earnestness  of  devotion,  distinguished  your  feel- 
ings by  day  and  were  as  the  sunlight  around  your 
soul  at  night — how  prompt  and  ready  you  were 
for  any  duty  and  any  sacrifice  by  which  you  could 
honor  and  glorify  your  blessed  lyord — how  pre- 
cious to  you  was  the  word  of  your  God  as  you 
read  and  marked  its  glowing  texts  or  listened  to 
it  from  the  sacred  desk  as  often  as  Sunday  came 
— how  the  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs 
of  the  Church  reverberated  in  your  soul,  and  what 
melody  to  the  Lord  they  made  in  your  heart — 
how  easy  and  free  and  frequent  were  your  com- 
munings with  God,  and  what  confidence  you  had 
in  the  forgiving  love  and  favor  of  the  heavenly 
Father — to  what  a  paradise  of  peace  and  satisfac- 
tion grace  raised  you,  on  what  sunlit  summits  you 
then  walked  in  sweet  communion  with  Him  whose 
redeeming  love  you  had  learned  to  know  and  feel, 
and  with  what  disdain  and  loathing  you  thence 
looked  down  upon  the  empty  husks  and  baubles 
of  worldly  gayety  and  carnal  pleasuring  as  com- 
pared with  the  high  things  then  so  near  and  dear 
to  your  soul.  And  as  you  trace  the  glowing  pic- 
ture, still  bright  on  the  tablets  of  memory,  think 
of  how  it  is  with  }'ou  now.     Do  those  halcyon 


TO    THE    CIILKCH   OF  EPIIESUS.  45 

days  still  shine  upon  your  path,  filling  your  soul 
with  their  supernal  brightness  ?  Do  you  still  find 
yourself  aloft,  triumphing  upon  the  Rock  of  Ages 
and  breathing  joyously  the  pure  atmosphere  of 
God's  heavens?  Or  has  there  been  a  change, 
interposing  a  wide  gulf  between  that  blessed 
past  and  this  present  ?  Are  you  conscious  of 
some  mysterious  difference  for  the  worse  ?  Have 
sighs  for  the  joys  you  have  tasted  come  into  the 
place  of  those  happy  songs  ?  Has  cold  and  chill 
and  cloud  and  dimness  and  darkness  and  doubt 
and  heaviness  quenched  out  that  ardent  warmth 
of  joy  in  the  Lord  and  pleasure  in  His  service  ? 
Make  the  comparison  and  see  if  there  has  been 
no  unfavorable  transition. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  enthusiasm  of  first  disci- 
pleship  will  or  must  always  gush  and  spring  as  at 
the  beginning.  Youthful  emotions  naturally  and 
necessarily  sober  down  amid  the  realities  of  after- 
life, and  so  religious  enthusiasm  and  ecstasies  as 
well;  but  then  they  must  settle  into  deeper  prin- 
ciple. An  old  Christian  may  have  less  passion 
than  at  his  entrance  on  the  heavenly  way,  but 
the  spring  of  religious  character  and  devotion 
must  still  be  there,  all  the .  steadier  and  firmer 
for  the  growth  of  years,  ready  on  occasion  joy- 
fully to  make  sacrifices  for  Christ,  and  as  appre- 
ciative of  all  that  belongs  to  the  nurture  and 
exercises   of    Christian   life   as   ever.     The    first 


46  THE    LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

glow  of  early  feeling  may  be  sobered  down,  but 
what  is  lost  in  fervor  must  be  regained  in  fixed- 
ness, depth,  and  strength,  the  energy  of  principle 
acting  in  the  room  of  the  enthusiasm  of  feeling 
when  life  was  younger.  Though  there  may  be 
less  effervescence  to  incite  and  impel,  there  must 
be  settled  conviction  and  tried  purpose  to  move 
one  forward  all  the  same  and  with  all  the  more 
steadiness.  There  may  not  be  as  much  rampage 
of  religious  emotion  and  joy,  but  the  living  prin- 
ciple must  be  there  to  act  out  duty  as  the  crisis 
for  it  comes.  The  leaping,  dancing,  and  spark- 
ling rill  may  lose  its  dash  and  hurry,  but  only  to 
widen  and  deepen  into  the  calm  majesty  of  the 
river,  the  latter  still  moving  steadily  on  to  the 
same  great  ocean  toward  which  the  other  bounded 
with  so  much  life.  Otherwise,  there  is  unwhole- 
some stagnation,  and  first  love  is  dying  out,  if  not 
already  dead. 

It  may  be  unpleasant  to  recall  a  joyous  past  in 
comparison  with  a  sad  and  faulty  present.  It  is 
no  comforting  discovery  to  find  that  we  have  been 
retrograding  and  going  down  hill  instead  of  up. 
But  we  need  to  know  the  facts  if  there  is  to  be  an 
effectual  remedy.  Jesus  tells  us  to  make  this  ret- 
rospect as  the  first  step  to  a  reparation  of  the  lapse 
that  has  intervened.  And  why  should  w^e  try  to 
hide  from  ourselves  what  we  cannot  hide  from  our 
Saviour,    and  what  must  work  death  to  all  our 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  EPHESUS.  47 

hopes  if  not  discovered  and  vigorously  treated? 
If  we  have  been  losing  our  first  love,  we  need  to 
know  it,  and  trying  to  conceal  it  from  ourselves 
will  not  relieve  the  misfortune.  Therefore  the 
word  of  the  merciful  Saviour  is,  ^^ Remember 
from  zvhence  thoit  art  falleny  The  facts  must 
be  considered. 

And  the  next  step  is  equally  clear.  One  word 
expresses  it:  they  that  have  left  their  first  love 
must  ^^  repent y  They  must  confess  the  evil,  be 
sorry  for  it,  and  set  earnestly  to  work  to  retrace 
their  steps,  in  order  to  get  back  into  the  true  life 
of  faith.  When  Peter  stood  convicted  of  having 
wickedly  denied  his  Lord,  he  did  not  try  to  hide 
it  from  his  soul  or  to  apologize  for  it  as  a  thing 
which  he  was  betrayed  into  and  could  not  help. 
No;  he  knew  that  he  was  a  sinner;  he  felt  it  in 
his  soul.  It  wounded  and  distressed  him  that  he 
should  have  made  himself  answerable  for  so  great 
a  piece  of  cowardice  and  wickedness  toward  his 
meek  and  suffering  Lord.  And  he  ^'^ -went  out 
and  zvept  bitterly ^  Broken-hearted  for  his  ter- 
rible fall,  he  threw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  God, 
and  with  a  soul  aching  with  abhorrence  of  his 
crime,  and  thoroughly  changed  from  any  further 
fellowship  with  his  sin,  he  sued  for  pardon.  His 
broken  heart  was  already  a  reinstatement,  in  so 
far  as  it  carried  with  it  an  altered  mind  and  a  re- 


48  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

newed  devotion  to  his  Lord.  This  was  his  repent- 
ance, and  it  was  effectual.  And  so  are  we  to  re- 
pent of  our  fall  from  first  love.  We  must  not 
apologize  for  it;  we  must  not  try  to  hide  it  from 
us;  we  must  not  begin  to  think  that  we  could  not 
help  it;  but  must  own  up  to  ourselves  and  to  God, 
with  wounded  and  sorrowing  hearts,  that  we  have 
Deen  so  faithless  and  untrue,  humbly  imploring 
restoration  to  His  favor,  and  made  up  to  leave 
nothing  undone  to  be  cured  and  healed  of  our 
guilty  defection,  and  by  His  good  help  henceforth 
to  keep  ourselves  in  His  love. 

Not  all  repentance  is  the  same.  There  is  a  re- 
pentance which  looks  at  the  consequences  and 
punishments  of  sin,  and  struggles  simply  to  es- 
cape from  them;  and  there  is  a  repentance  which 
looks  at  the  guilt  and  wrong  of  sin,  and  sorrows 
over  it  for  its  evilness,  and  struggles  for  deliver- 
ance from  it  because  of  its  meanness  and  hateful- 
ness.  We  see  the  one  kind  in  Pharaoh,  who  cried, 
''^Take  away  the  frogs^''^  which  his  wickedness  had 
brought  upon  him  and  his  country.  We  see  the 
other  in  David,  who  cried,  ^^Take  azvay  my  sin ; 
wash  me  from  mine  iniquity;  purge  me  with  hys- 
sop, and  I  shall  be  clean;  create  in  me  a  clean 
heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within 
me."  The  one  drives  to  despair,  as  in  the  case 
of  Judas;  the  other  leads  back,  in  broken-hearted 
return,  to  wronged  Goodness,  saying,  "Father,  I 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  KPHESUS.  49 

have  sinned  before  lieaxen  and  in  tliv  sight^  and 
am  no  more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son,"  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Prodigal. 

There  is  also  a  repentance  which  expresses 
great  sorrow  for  sin  to-day  while  the  penalties 
of  transgression  are  sore  and  heavy,  but  when  the 
pain  is  over  is  ready  to  plunge  again  into  the  same 
misdoings.  This  was  the  sort  that  appeared  so 
often  in  King  Saul,  but  which  failed  to  make  a 
right  man  of  him  or  to  save  him  from  the  doom 
of  a  guilty  and  rejected  suicide.  The  repentance 
which  the  Saviour  calls  for  in  the  text  is  a  repent- 
ance that  confesses  and  laments  sin  because  it  is 
sin,  and  sorrows  for  having  given  place  to  what  is 
so  wrong,  evil,  hurtful,  and  offensive,  and  is  hon- 
estly desirous  and  resolved  to  amend.  And  not 
until  we  come  to  this  are  w^e  in  the  right  way  to 
heal  and  repair  the  evil  of  having  fallen  from  our 
first  love. 

And  yet  there  remains  one  other  item  in  the 
prescription.  Remembering  whence  we  have 
fallen,  and  sincerely  repenting,  it  belongs  to  the 
proceeding  for  the  backslider  to  re-begin  his 
whole  Christian  life.  ^''Do  the  first  ivorks^^  is 
the  direction  the  blessed  Saviour  gives.  This 
means  the  setting  of  ourselves  upon  the  same 
path  and  in  the  same  w^ay  in  which  we  came  to 
our  first  love.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  must  be 
rebaptized,  but  that  we  must  come  back  to  our 
4 


50  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

baptism,  to  the  meaning  of  it — to  the  consecra- 
tion to  Christ  of  which  it  is  the  mark  and.  badge 
— to  the  covenant  and  promises  of  which  it  is  the 
divine  seal.  It  does  not  mean  that  we  must  be 
reconfirmed;  but  that  we  must  come  back  again 
to  precisely  the  same  point  of  renunciation  of  the 
devil  and  all  his  works,  the  vanities  of  the  world, 
and  the  sinful  desires  of  the  flesh — to  renewal  of 
faith  in  God  and  in  His  Son  our  Saviour,  sincerely 
desiring  to  be  received  into  the  fellowship  and  lib- 
erty of  His  true  children — to  the  unreserved  sur- 
render of  ourselves,  hearts,  and  lives  to  the  loving 
obedience  of  faith,  to  live  and  die  as  the  willing 
subjects  and  followers  of  Him  in  whom  our  salva- 
tion stands.  Confessing  and  lamenting  our  past 
failures,  grieved  in  soul  that  we  could  ever  slacken 
and  sink  away  in  our  affection  and  devotion  to  so 
true  and  good  a  lyord,  feeling  and  sorrowing  for 
our  unworthiness  and  ill-desert,  full  of  earnest 
longings  and  prayers  for  God's  merciful  forgive- 
ness, and  honestly  desiring  by  His  gracious  help 
to  be  and  do  and  suffer  whatever  His  holy  will 
may  be, — so  are  we  to  come  to  Him,  as  we  came 
at  the  first,  throwing  ourselves  on  His  compassion, 
and  in  all  the  depths  of  our  nature,  saying, 

Here,  Lord,  I  give  myself  to  Thee, 
'Tis  all  that  I  can  do. 

By  all  the  powers  a  gracious  God  has  given  us 


TO    -J  I  IE    LlJLRCH  OF  EPHESUS.  5  I 

and  will  give  wc  must  reform  from  all  neglects, 
from  all  dalliance  with  the  ways  of  the  world, 
from  all  half-heartedness  in  religion.  This  is 
doing  the  first  works  over  again,  even  those 
which  gave  ns  those  better  days,  the  holy  mnsic 
of  which  still  comes  np  in  memory  amid  all  the 
cold  and  wretchedness  of  the  estrangement  which 
has  since  befallen  ns.  And  nothing  less  than  this 
can  bring  abont  a  retnrn  of  that  spiritual  summer- 
time or  repair  the  mischief  of  having  left  our  first 
love.  Indeed,  this  is  what  God  calls  for  from  all 
people,  at  all  times,  if  they  would  enjoy  His 
peace. 

Happily,  however,  we  have  many  hopeful  en- 
couragements to  all  this.  Backsliders  know  to 
what  heights  of  peace  and  holy  joy  they  once 
were  lifted  by  the  grace  in  which  they  then  hoped 
and  trusted;  and  that  grace  is  the  same  now  and 
able  to  do  for  us  the  same  again.  Jesus  sends 
His  special  message,  bidding  those  who  have  left 
their  first  love  to  remember  whence  they  have 
fallen,  repent,  and  do  the  first  works;  and  He 
would  not  give  such  a  prescription  if  it  were 
not  a  competent  remed}'  to  work  a  complete  cure. 
Many  of  the  ancient  saints,  when  fallen  into  such 
spiritual  decay,  tried  it  and  found  themselves  once 
more  peaceful  and  happy  in  the  love  and  favor  of 
Heaven.  x\nd  God's  word  and  promises  on  the 
subject  are  plentiful,  clear,  and  most  encouraging. 


52  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

Of  old  time  He  said  to  Jeremiah,  "Go  and  pro- 
claim these  words,  and  say,  Return,  thou  back- 
sliding Israel,  saith  the  Lord;  and  I  will  not  cause 
mine  anger  to  fall  upon  you ;  for  I  am  merciful ' ' 
(Jer.  3:12).  By  Isaiah  He  has  given  out,  "Let 
the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous 
man  his  thoughts,  and  let  him  return  unto  the 
Lord,  and  He  will  have  mercy  upon  him"  (Isa. 
55  :  7).  By  Hosea  the  word  is,  "  O  Israel,  return 
unto  the  Lord  thy  God,"  with  promise:  "  I  will 
heal  their  backsliding,  I  will  love  them  freely" 
(Hos.  14:  1-4).  Jesus  Himself  saith,  "Come  unto 
Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest  "  (Matt.  11  :  28).  Nor  can  there 
be  any  question  that  in  returning  and  humble 
resting  in  Jesus  we  shall  be  saved;  for  so  the 
voice  of  the  whole  Scripture  is. 

And  yet  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
there  is  also  an  awful  threat  in  the  text  in  case 
Christ's  lapsed  and  faulty  children  do  not  repent 
and  return  as  He  directs.  To  such  He  says  He 
will  come  quickly  and  remove  their  candlestick, 
turning  the  light  of  mercy  into  the  darkness  of 
judgment,  and  the  greatness  of  their  privileges 
to  a  millstone  to  sink  them  beyond  all  hope. 

See  how  it  was  with  the  church  of  Ephesus. 
Its  improvement  was  but  temporary.  It  decayed 
still  more  with  the  general  decay  that  came  after- 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  KPHESUS.  53 

ward.  No  great  length  of  time  passed  until  a 
visitor  there  might  well  have  asked  if  the  light- 
nings of  divine  vengeance  had  wrought  the  deso- 
lations that  were  upon  that  ill-fated  city.  And 
for  these  long  ages  since,  the  melancholy  echoes 
from  the  crumbling  walls  and  fallen  temples  of 
a  lost  Christianity  have  been  answering  back, 
"Look  on  us,  and  see  what  Jesus  means  by  the 
removal  of  the  candlestick  from  its  place." 


Hecture  CijirtJ. 

Rev.  2:7:"  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith 
unto  the  churches ;  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God." 

HE  intensity  and  the  directness  to  every 
one  of  the  exhortation  in  the  first  part  of 
this  text  bespeak  the  presence  of  truths 
of  great  importance.  It  has  been  rightly  said 
that  "this  form  always  is  used  of  radical  and 
generative  truths,  great  principles,  most  precious 
promises,  most  deep  fetches  from  the  secrets  of 
God,  being  as  it  were  eyes  of  truth,  seeds  and 
kernels  of  knowledge" — things  in  which  man- 
kind have  the  profoundest  interest,  and  without 
the  learning  of  which  we  are  at  great  disadvan- 
tage. By  these  words,  then,  appended  as  they 
are  to  each  of  these  seven  Letters,  we  are  here 
instructed  by  the  Saviour  Himself  that  they  are 
of  very  momentous  import  and  relate  to  things  of 
the  deepest  consequence  to  our  welfare. 

But  the  same  words  also  propound  a  matter  of 
urgent  duty  which  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  omit 
or  disregard.  The  Scriptures  everywhere  make 
much    of    Jiearing — the    giving   of    attention    to 

54 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  55 

what  God  has  been  pleased  to  record  and  make 
known  to  ns  in  His  word.  When  Jehovah  speaks 
it  is  for  those  to  whom  He  speaks  to  give  ear  and 
to  observe  what  He  says.  When  He  calls  to  us 
and  makes  communications  it  is  for  us  to  reeard 
and  consider  what  He  speaks.  He  who  walks  in 
the  midst  of  the  golden  candlesticks  does  not  dic- 
tate Letters  to  His  churches  and  send  them  to  us 
from  heaven,  and  yet  leave  it  to  our  whims  or 
option  to  give  attention  to  them  or  not.  Giving 
us  these  utterances  of  His  mind  and  judgment, 
He  gives  with  them  His  solemn  command  and 
requirement:  ^^He  that  hath  an  ear^  let  him  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches^ 

First  of  all,  we  then  have  here  a  solemn  rebuke 
to  those  who  call  themselves  Christians,  and  yet 
seldom  if  ever  look  into  their  Bibles  to  read  and 
study  them,  and  do  not  seem  to  care  what  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  spoken.  Though  the  Scriptures 
are  given  to  be  to  us  our  light  and  guide  in  mak- 
ing our  way  through  this  dark  world,  many  so- 
called  Christian  people  do  not  care  for  the  read- 
ing of  the  word  or  whether  they  attend  upon  the 
preaching  of  it  or  not.  Some  think  they  have 
fulfilled  their  duty  if  they  read  a  text  now  and 
then,  and  hear  a  sermon  once  a  week  when  the 
weather  is  inviting  or  when  they  do  not  know 
what  else  to  do  with  themselves  of  a  Sunday. 
Having^  ears  to  hear,  it  is  the  Saviour's  command 


56  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

to  US  to  "hear  what  the  Spirit  saith;"  but  few  is 
the  number  w^io  care  to  obey  it. 

And  when  we  come  to  a  close  comparison  of 
the  divine  precepts  with  the  ways  in  which  many 
treat  God's  holy  word,  we  cannot  but  wonder  at 
His  forbearance  toward  the  great  mass  of  those 
who  make  up  our  modern  Christendom.  With 
all  the  activities  and  zeal  of  these  people  of  Ephe- 
sus,  the  Saviour  still  found  occasion  to  fault  them 
with  having  left  their  first  love;  but  when  we  look 
at  most  of  the  church-people  of  our  day,  even  in 
regard  to  this  one  item  of  "hearing  what  the 
Spirit  saith,"  it  would  seem  very  doubtful  if  they 
ever  had  any  real  love  at  all.  It  becomes  every 
one  of  us,  therefore,  to  search  and  try  ourselves 
well  as  to  our  treatment  and  hearing  of  what  God 
has  given  for  our  learning,  that  through  patience 
and  comfort  of  the  Scriptures  we  may  have  hope. 

Nor  should  we  forget  the  fact  that  everything 
touching  our  salvation  depends  on  the  giving  of 
an  attentive  ear  to  the  divine  word  and  the  dili- 
gent use  of  our  privileges,  to  hear,  mark,  learn, 
and  inwardly  digest  what  it  contains.  Jesus 
prayed  for  His  followers:  "  Sanctify  them  by  Thy 
truth,  Thy  word  is  truth;"  but  how  can  the  word 
sanctify  us  if  we  do  not  hear  it  and  are  not  con- 
cerned to  know  and  understand  it  ?  It  is  written 
that  "Whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the 
lyord  shall  be  saved;"   but  "  How  shall  they  call 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  57 

on  Him  in  whom  they  have  not  believed  ?  and 
how  shall  tliey  believe  in  Him  of  whom  they  have 
not  Jieard?-^  Hearing  and  right  learning  of  the 
word  lie  at  the  basis  of  evervthinor.  If  there  is 
no  proper  hearing,  there  can  be  no  right  believ- 
ing; and  where  no  right  faith  is  there  can  be  no 
salvation.  It  is  therefore  in  itself  a  most  vital 
thing  that,  having  ears,  we  shonld  nse  them  to 
hear  and  learn  all  the  word  and  commnnications 
of  God,  as  Jesus  Himself  here  lays  it  upon  every 
one  to  do. 

But  this  exhortation  has  also  a  deeper  meaning. 
Bvery  one  has  capacity  to  give  attention,  and  so 
it  is  laid  upon  every  one  to  employ  that  capacity. 
But  not  every  one  who  hears  with  the  outward 
ear  does  thereby  really  hear  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  Saviour's  meaning.  There  is  an  inward  hear- 
ing— a  hearing  in  which  the-  things  spoken  take 
hold  on  the  soul  and  inform  and  move  it — a  hear- 
ing which  answers  to  what  is  heard.  There  must 
be  spiritual  discernment,  a  taking  in  of  the  truth, 
and  a  heart-heeding  of  it,  so  as  to  be  guided,  in- 
fluenced, and  controlled  by  it  in  our  thinking  and 
doing. 

There  are  people  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as 
"  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  ears,"  to  whom  the 
word  is  only  as  a  pleasant  sound  which  takes  no 
hold  to  shape  character  or  affect  the  life.  The 
truth  is,  that  a  right-hearing  ear  in  sacred  things 


58  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

is  a  gift  of  God  and  a  matter  of  grace.  It  is  a 
spiritual  organ  which  only  the  Holy  Ghost  can 
create — a  spiritual  sense  which  God  must  awaken. 
Hence,  also,  if  any  one  has  not  such  a  spiritual 
ear,  his  duty  is  to  seek  the  grace  by  which  he 
may  have  it,  and  inwardly  hear,  so  as  to  become 
a  doer  of  the  work.  It  is  a  grace  which  God  is 
ever  ready  and  pleased  to  give  to  every  one  sin- 
cerely desirous  to  possess  it  or  who  wishes  saving- 
ly to  learn  His  truth.  Nay,  the  power  to  create 
it  is  in  the  word  itself,  which  is  so  constituted  and 
inwrought  with  the  energy  of  the  Spirit  that  it 
will  create  its  own  way  to  an  effectual  hearing  if 
people  will  only  entertain  it  and  listen  to  it  with 
a  view  to  learn  and  obey  it.  "  The  word  of  God 
is  quick  and  powerful,  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword;"  and  if  people  will  only  receive  it  into 
''good  and  honest  hearts,"  willing  and  anxious 
to  be  profited  by  it,  its  quickening  power  will  be 
realized  and  fruit  abundant  will  come  of  it.  And, 
as  the  Saviour  calls  upon  us  to  hear  to  good  prac- 
tical purpose,  He  at  the  same  time  makes  it  our 
duty  to  set  ourselves  with  devout  desire  and 
prayerful ness  rightly  to  hear  and  to  be  conformed 
to  His  word.  Some  hear  but  little,  yet  learn 
much,  while  others  hear  much,  yet  learn  but 
little;  and  the  whole  difference  lies  in  the  earn- 
estness or  unconcern  with  which  people  hear  or 
try  to  learn  the  truth. 


TO    THE   CHURCH   OF  EPHESUS.  59 

Nor  should  we  fail  to  notice  in  passing  that  He 
who  dictates  these  Letters  to  the  churches,  and  is 
Himself  the  speaker  throughout,  yet  calls  them 
"  zvhat  the  Spirit  saithy  He  thus  asserts  an  ab- 
solute identity  between  His  doing  and  the  vSpirit's 
doing  in  the  giving  of  the  word.  He  would  have 
us  see  and  know  that  what  He  says  the  Holy  Ghost 
says,  and  that  what  the  Spirit  says,  that  He  says. 
The  Holy  Ghost  is  the  Spirit  of  the  Son,  the  same 
as  of  the  Father;  and  so  the  Son  is  one  in  the 
same  Trinity  with  both.  What  the  Father  doeth, 
that  doeth  the  Son  likewise;  and  what  the  Son 
saith  is  at  the  same  time  what  the  Spirit  saith. 
What  is  here  spoken  is  therefore  in  every  sense 
and  respect  the  absolute  word  of  God,  even  the 
Triune  God,  which  is  sufficient  reason  why  every 
one  that  hath  an  ear  should  hear. 

Notice,  then,  the  character  and  attitude  of  those 
who  become  true  hearers  of  the  divine  word. 

A  great  promise  is  here  given.  The  word  is 
that  ^ '  to  him  that  overcometh  ' '  great  rewards  are 
in  reserve.  To  overcome  implies  conflict.  It  be- 
speaks enemies,  antagonisms,  and  opposing  hin- 
drances. We  cannot  speak  of  victory  where  there 
has  been  no  contest,  no  enemies  to  conquer,  no 
difficulties  to  surmount.  And  as  the  promise 
is  "to  him  that  overcometh^''^  the  idea  is  that 
every  right  hearer  of  the  word  is  a  combatant — 
one  who  has  to  contend  with  enemies  and  oppo- 


6o  THE    LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

sition — one  who  has  the  character  and  attitude 
of  a  fighter — one  who  has  to  make  his  way  by 
conflict. 

It  is  a  marked  truth  that  as  people  become  liv- 
ing Christians  they  become  soldiers.  This  lies  in 
the  ver\'  nature  of  things,  and  cannot  be  other- 
wise, w^hether  we  like  it  or  not.  No  one  can 
reach  heaven  without  fiofhtino:  his  wav  throug^h 
an  enemy's  country.  This  world  lieth  in  the 
wicked  one.  Satan  is  its  prince  and  master. 
His  dominion  is  indeed  a  usurpation  which  must 
eventually  be  destroyed,  but  for  the  present  it 
holds.  The  great  mass  of  this  world's  population 
is  under  Satan's  sway.  He  rules  in  the  children 
of  disobedience.  And  under  his  kingdom  we  all 
are  born,  having  the  taint  of  his  depravity  upon 
us  from  our  very  coming  into  the  world.  In  be- 
coming Christians  we  take  another  Lord,  come 
under  a  new  rule,  enlist  under  another  standard, 
and  set  up  rebellion  against  the  dominion  of  the 
Bvil  One;  and  so  we  are  at  once  thrown  into 
conflict  with  Satan's  empire,  and  must  contend 
and  fight  to  maintain  ourselves  and  come  off 
victorious. 

One  thing  we  have  to  contend  with  is  ignorance 
— spiritual  darkness.  The  reason  why  many  are 
so  easy  in  their  sinfulness,  poverty,  and  danger  is 
that  they  do  not  know  their  real  condition.  Their 
moral    perceptions  are   darkened,    their  spiritual 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  EPHESUS.  6 1 

vision  is  obscured  and  perverted;  they  have  no 
iinderstandiiitr  of  the  situation.  And  it  is  hard 
to  get  men's  eyes  open  to  the  facts.  People  have 
to  learn  of  God,  of  truth,  of  Christ,  of  the  reality 
of  spiritual  things,  of  the  destitution  and  needs 
of  the  soul,  and  of  the  way  of  life.  So  many 
false  impressions  and  miserable  deceptions  and 
lying  persuasions  have  to  be  found  out,  con- 
quered, and  put  aside  that  a  true  man  is  in  per- 
petual conflict  and  effort  to  come  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth  and  to  get  hold  of  the  only  safe  and 
saving  wisdom. 

Another  thing  to  be  fought  is  our  carnal  nature^ 
with  its  man)'  lusts  warring  against  the  soul.  We 
are  ever  prone  to  be  influenced  most  by  what 
meets  and  gratifies  the  earthly  senses  and  pleases 
our  sensuous  imagination.  Many  live  only  for 
the  body  and  what  pertains  to  the  ease  and  glory 
of  the  earthly  man.  "The  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and 
lusts  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life"  have 
wonderful  power  in  all  of  us  to  control,  enlist, 
and  absorb  our  affections  and  activities,  to  the 
exclusion  of  spiritual  and  eternal  things,  which 
lie  beyond  the  reach  of  our  earthly  senses.  They 
are  very  potent  to  crowd  God  out  of  our  thoughts. 
He  who  would  be  a  right  man  has  thus  continu- 
ally to  fight  against  this  tendency  or  be  drawn 
along  in  a  way  to  starve  and  ruin  his  immortal 
nature.     It   takes  effort,    watching,   and   ever-re- 


62  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

newed  endeavor  to  keep  alive  to  an  nnseen  world, 
to  endure  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible,  and  to 
be  duly  anxious  about  spiritual  bread  and  good- 
fortune.  Beset  as  we  are  in  this  world  with  the 
pressing  claims  and  flattering  promises  of  worldly 
good  and  pleasure,  it  requires  a  strong  and  per- 
petual fight  to  be  successful  in  keeping  ourselves 
in  the  love  and  service  of  God.  When  it  comes 
to  a  question  between  a  fortune  and  a  dishonesty 
— between  a  fleshly  delight  and  a  religious  duty 
— between  honorable  standing  in  the  eyes  of  men 
and  strict  obedience  to  the  clear  commands  of 
God  —  between  our  ease,  likes,  or  fancies,  and 
Gospel  requirements — between  plenty,  happiness, 
and  comfort  in  this  world  and  self-denial  and  suf- 
fering for  the  rewards  of  eternity — between  an  in- 
viting lie  and  a  humiliating  truth — between  mon- 
ey hoarded  for  the  love  of  it  and  money  to  be 
parted  with  to  answer  God's  calls — between  pro- 
motion on  earth  and  humble  fidelity  to  the  Lord 
Jesus, — the  decision  is  not  so  easy,  and  multitudes 
take  the  wrong  side  and  are  led  captive  by  the 
devil's  power.  Duty  and  selfishness,  faith  and 
unbelief,  the  new  man  and  the  old,  are  ever 
wrestling  and  contending  with  each  other  in 
every  one  honestly  desiring  to  maintain  a  Chris- 
tian life.  Paul  felt  this  struggle,  and  tells  us  of 
a  law  in  his  members  warring  against  the  law  of 
his  mind,    and   exclaims,  over  the  wretchedness 


TO    THE    CIJURCn    OF  EPHESUS.  63 

often   induced   by   the   feet  that  when  he  would 
do  good  evil  was  present  with  him. 

And  with  all  these  things  are  the  subtle  activities 
of  Satan  and  his  evil  confederates.  These  consti- 
tute an  unseen,  malignant,  and  multitudinous  host 
of  spiritual  agencies  and  powers  in  league  to  de- 
feat the  gracious  will  of  God.  From  them  come 
all  sorts  of  cunning  machinations  and  assaults 
which  have  to  be  encountered  and  overcome.  In 
the  garb  of  the  best  of  friends,  and  often  trans- 
forming themselves  into  angels  of  light,  they 
obtrude  themselves  to  deceive  and  lead  astrav, 
inject  upon  our  minds  every  variety  of  insinua- 
tions and  ill  promptings,  ever  trying  to  persuade 
us  that  evil  is  good  and  good  evil,  and  imposing 
upon  multitudes  of  unsuspecting  souls.  We  are 
told  that  Satan  goeth  about,  through  his  various 
emissaries,  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he 
may  devour.  Paul  assures  us  that  our  fight  and 
warfare  are  not  only  with  flesh  and  blood,  but 
with  principalities  and  powers,  the  rulers  in  the 
darkness  of  this  world  and  wicked  spirits  in  the 
air.  They  can  do  us  no  mischief  if  we  are  firm 
in  resisting  them,  and  use  the  means  of  with- 
standing them,  and  keep  on  the  alert  against 
being  betrayed  into  their  power;  but  it  demands 
constant  vigilance,  effort,  and  many  sharp  con- 
flicts to  resist  and  vanquish  them  and  their  cun- 
ning devices.     They  have  many  agents  in  this 


64  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

world  to  solicit,  tempt,  and  influence  ns  against 
the  truth,  to  try  to  laugh  us  out  of  faith  in  the 
Gospel  and  the  duties  of  piety,  and  by  false  sci- 
ence and  a  show  of  superior  wisdom  to  undermine 
our  confidence.  And  in  one  way  or  another  we 
constantly  have  to  contend  with  these  unclean 
spirits. 

These  enemies  we  are  obliged  to  withstand,  re- 
sist, and  conquer,  or  they  will  conquer  us.  En- 
listing under  Christ's  banner,  we  enter  upon  a 
war,  and  cannot  come  out  of  it  but  as  victors  or 
vanquished.  It  is  often  a  very  trying  war,  but 
the  helps  are  ample,  and  success  is  sure  if  we  are 
only  vigilant,  courageous,  and  true;  and  grand 
rewards  await  him  who  "  overcometh. " 

To  encourage  and  strengthen  us  in  this  strife 
the  Saviour  here  says  to  each  and  every  one, 
' '  To  hwi  that  overcometh  7vill  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life  which  is  in  the  viidst  of  the  paradise 
of  Gody  Beautiful  promise!  and  as  rich  in  sig- 
nificance as  it  is  in  beauty. 

What  all  is  meant  by  "the  tree  of  life"  we 
cannot  fully  explain.  We  first  read  of  it  in  the 
happy  beginning  of  our  world,  when  man  was 
innocent  and  Eden  was  his  home  and  God  was 
his  familiar  friend.  Jehovah  planted  it.  It  was 
"in  the  midst  of  the  garden"  as  the  central  orna- 
ment and  the  most  blessed  product  of  that  abode 
of  blessedness.     The  eating:  of  the  fruit  of  it  in 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  EPHESLS.  65 

the  primeval  Paradise  seems  to  have  been  meant 
as  a  sacrament  of  fellowship  with   life — a  pledge,,^ 
snpport,  and  appropriation  of  life  eternal  for  sonl 
and  body. 

There  was  once  mncli  sacredness  in  eating, 
thongh  there  is  so  ninch  sin  connected  with  it 
now;  and  when  redemption  once  comes  to  its 
completion  that  sacred  eating  is  to  be  restored. 
If  saints  in  glory  do  not  need  to  eat,  they  can 
eat;  and  as  the  fall  came  b)'  eating  disobediently, 
and  for  it  man  has  ever  since  been  excluded  from 
the  tree  having  snblimest  virtue,  so  redemption  is 
to  bring  man  once  more  within  reach  of  that  tree 
to  eat  of  its  blest  frnits.  Paradise  restored  is  the 
tree  of  life  restored,  and  man  redeemed  is  to  find 
it  one  of  the  happiest  features  of  his  innnortality 
that  he  shall  be  given  to  eat  of  that  tree.  Sin  cut 
us  off  from  it,  and  the  victory  of  faith  in  the  Son 
of  God  is  to  bring  us  back  to  it  and  it  to  us.  There 
will  be  neither  hunger  nor  thirst  in  heaven,  nor 
are  we  to  suppose  that  there  will  be  any  waste  in 
the  energies  of  the  glorified  calling  for  recupera- 
tion b}-  means  of  corporeal  digestion;  but  still, 
there  will  be  some  kind  of  eating  there — eating 
of  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  life — some  deep  com-\^ 
munion  with  Life,  constituting  one  of  the  highest^ 
joys  of  eternity. 

Very   much   is  said   about   lyife   in   connection 
with  the  rewards  of  the  saints.      ''Eternal  Life" 
5 


66  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

— "everlasting  Life" — "entrance  into  Life" — 
"a  crown  of  Life  " — "the  river  of  Life  " — "  the 
tree  of  Life,"  are  everywhere  most  hopefully  and 
joyously  spoken  of.  Even  for  Christians  in  this 
world  we  read  of  "the  bread  of  Life" — "the 
water  of  Life"  — "the  Spirit  of  Life"  — "the 
grace  of  Life" — "the  savor  of  Life  unto  Life" 
— "the  power  of  Life" — "the  word  of  Life." 
Wisdom,  as  commended  in  the  book  of  Proverbs, 
is  said  to  be  "a  tree  of  Life  to  them  that  lay  hold 
on  her."  It  is  said  that  "the  fruit  of  righteous- 
ness is  a  tree  of  Life."  And,  like  the  golden 
table  of  showbread  which  ever  stood  in  the  an- 
cient tabernacle  and  temple  for  the  priests,  so  the 
Tree  of  Life  stands  in  all  the  golden  street-way 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  with  monthly  fruits  for  the 
immortal  ones  in  glory,  to  which  all  that  have 
washed  their  robes  have  free  and  unlimited 
access. 

What  all  this  may  mean  is  more  than  we  can 
conceive,  but  privilege  and  blessedness  unspeak- 
able are  indicated.  There  is  a  heavenly  Paradise. 
The  presence  of  God  is  there.  It  is  luminous 
with  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb.  Nothing 
false  or  unclean  or  unsavor}-  can  ever  enter  it.  It 
is  the  everlasting  home-place  of  the  saints.  Its 
foundations  are  jewels.  Its  walks  are  gold.  Its 
watchmen  are  angels.  It  is  the  metropolis  of  in- 
tensest,    highest,    purest,    and    holiest   Life.     Its 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  EPHESUS.  67 

rivers  are  rivers  of  Life.  Its  trees  are  trees  of 
Life.  Its  waters  are  waters  of  Life.  Its  inhabit- 
ants are  those  who  have  eternal  Life  and  have 
entered  into  Life,  and  inherit  ever  more  and  more 
of  everlasting  Life.  And  this  is  the  lot  and  por- 
tion which  the  blessed  Saviour  here  engages  to 
give  to  him  that  overcometh. 

The  promise  to  the  victor  also  corresponds  to 
the  ill  to  be  vanquished.  These  Ephesians  were 
wasting  and  failing  in  their  first  love.  Their 
spiritual  life  was  beginning  to  yield  and  weaken. 
There  was  danger  that  they  would  lose  the  vital 
energy  of  religious  devotion.  They  were  grow- 
ing faint  and  flabby  in  the  life  of  faith.  This 
weakening  and  downwardness  they  were  now 
called  on  to  resist  and  fight  and  overcome.  And 
the  promise  to  the  victor  is  in  the  line  of  the 
trouble  they  were  to  combat.  They  were  be- 
coming inwardly  weak,  therefore  there  was  prom- 
ise of  spiritual  nourishment.  There  was  decay 
of  life,  and  so  there  was  promise  of  the  highest 
and  most  plenteous  food  of  life.  For  a  wasting 
state  they  were  to  have  Paradise.  For  their 
weakening  in  the  springs  of  life  they  were  to 
have  to  eat  of  the  Tree  of  Life. 

The  special  rewards  of  the  victorious  always 
take  their  intensest  form  from  the  sort  of  work 
done  or  the  particular  kind  of  trouble  and  ad- 
versity conquered  and  surmounted.     The  Ephe- 


6S  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

sians  were  fainting  in  the  fervency  of  love  and 
the  energy  of  spirituality,  and  they  were  pointed 
to  the  Tree  of  lyife  in  the  midst  of  the  Paradise 
of  God.  The  Smyrniotes  were  in  great  trial  of 
persecution,  under  which  many  yielded  up  their 
lives  as  martyrs,  and  they  were  pointed  to  ex- 
emption from  the  second  death.  And  so  in  each 
instance  the  kind  of  weakness  and  trouble  to  be 
overcome  reappears  in  the  peculiarity  of  the  prom- 
ise to  the  victor,  and  those  who  conquer  in  their 
contest  with  the  worst  have  the  highest  reward. 

But  we  must  not  overlook  the  individuality  of 
this  promise.  It  is  not  made  to  the  church  as  a 
body,  but  to  each  separate  member  of  it:  "To 
him  that  overcometh."  Jesus  well  knew  that  the 
earthly  church,  as  such,  would  never  overcome, 
and  that  there  never  would  be  a  church  made  up 
of  none  but  overcomers.  But  He  knew  also  that 
in  the  faultiest  churches  there  are  still  some  true 
and  faithful  ones  to  maintain  the  fight  unto  final 
victory.  Hence  the  promise  is  to  the  individual 
members. 

It  is  not  the  general  fight  of  the  Church  against 
the  world  that  is  here  in  view,  but  the  individual 
fight  of  each  soul  with  the  errors,  weaknesses,  and 
faults  that  are  around  us,  in  the  Church  as  well 
as  out  of  it.  Let  the  Church,  as  such,  be  and  do 
as  it  will;  we  are  not  to  look  so  much  to  it  as  to 
ourselves — not  to  what  others  may  be  and  do,  but 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  EFHESUS.  69 

to  what  we  are.  The  Church  cannot  hear,  believe, 
and  love  for  us,  nor  repent  for  us,  nor  overcome 
for  us;  we  must  each  hear,  believe,  love,  and  over- 
come for  ourselves.  The  Church,  as  it  appears 
on  earth  as  a  whole,  cannot  hope  to  be  admitted 
to  the  Tree  of  Life.  It  embraces  too  many  faulty 
members  for  that.  But  as  individuals  we  may 
indulge  this  hope  if  we  struggle  on  in  faith.  We 
can  never  hope  that  this  our  Church  of  the  Holy 
Communion,  or  any  other  church,  shall  ultimate- 
ly appear  as  a  body  in  Paradise;  but  we  dare  hope, 
blessed  be  God!  that  we  as  individual  members 
may  appear  there.  And  to  us  as  individuals  the 
promise  is  that  if  we  only  hold  on,  work  on,  pray 
on,  and  exert  ourselves  in  the  diligent  use  of  the 
grace  given  us,  and  press  our  warfare  to  final  vic- 
tory, Jesus  will  give  us  place  and  reward  accord- 
ing to  the  trials  we  have  withstood,  the  weak- 
nesses we  have  overcome,  the  victories  over  self 
and  sin  and  error  we  have  won. 

Ah  yes,  dear  friends,  though  Sodom  blazes  be- 
hind us,  Jerusalem's  gates  of  pearl  stand  open  in 
our  front.  Whatever  desolations  of  once-glorious 
churches,  dissolving  of  cities,  perishing  of  states, 
or  crumbling  of  thrones  under  Jehovah's  judg- 
ments may  come  to  pass,  our  home  is  Paradise, 
our  food  the  fruit  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  if  only  we 
fio-ht  on  to  victorv.  And  in  that  immortal  retreat 
of  peace  and  purity  and  love  no  wintry  cloud  shall 


70  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

come  to  cast  its  chilling  shadow  on  ns,  no  hurri- 
cane or  earthquake  uproot  the  place  of  our  rest, 
no  lightning's  blast  or  tornado  scathe  or  enemy 
assail;  for  our  life  shall  be  in  full  fellowship  with 
its  Source,  never  more  to  be  severed  from  the  food 
that  nourishes  it  to  the  fulness  of  its  being  and 
blessedness. 

All  hopes,  all  wishes,  all  the  love 

We  sighed  for,  pined  for,  ever, 
Shall  bloom  around  us  there  above, 

And  last  with  us  for  ever. 


HcrtuxT  Jfourtlj. 

Rev.  2:8-11:  "And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Smyrna, 
write :  These  things  saith  the  first  and  the  last,  which  was  dead,  and 
is  alive ;  I  know  thy  works,  and  tribulation,  and  poverty  (but  thou 
art  rich),  and  I  know  the  blasphemy  of  them  which  say  they  are  Jews, 
and  are  not,  but  are  the  synagogue  of  Satan.  Fear  none  of  those 
things  which  thou  shalt  suffer.  Behold,  the  devil  shall  cast  some  of 
you  into  prison,  that  ye  may  be  tried ;  and  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ten 
days.  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of 
life.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
churches  :  He  that  overcometh  shall  not  be  hurt  of  the  second  death." 

F  the  seven  churclies  this  in  Smyrna  was 
the  most  afflicted  and  oppressed.  It  was 
poor;  it  was  much  reviled  by  false  pre- 
tenders; it  was  sorely  persecuted.  Satan's  ma- 
lignity seemed  to  have  taken  on  special  fierceness 
against  it,  casting  some  of  its  members  into  prison 
and  raising  fiery  storms  against  its  venerable  pas- 
tor, the  holy  Poly  carp.  The  church  of  Ephesus 
was  in  peril  from  inward  weakening  and  the  de- 
cay of  love,  but  the  church  of  Smyrna  was  in 
peril  from  its  external  enemies  and  the  afflictions 
that  were  upon  it  from  without.  And  to  this 
state  of  sorrow  and  suffering  the  Saviour  chiefly 
speaks  in  this  I^etter. 

71 


72  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Already  in  the  superscription  He  describes 
Himself  in  the  way  best  fitted  to  comfort  and 
establish  them  against  the  afilictions  they  were 
in.  It  is  not  His  walking  in  the  midst  of  the 
golden  candlesticks,  and  His  holding  of  the  seven 
stars  in  His  right  hand,  that  He  here  puts  for- 
ward, but  His  being  the  First  and  the  Last,  His 
having  died  and  yet  being  alive  again,  and  living 
for  ever.  He  thus  proclaimed  Himself  to  their 
confidence  as  older,  mightier,  and  more  enduring 
than  the  persons  and  powers  which  were  oppress- 
ing them — as  having  gone  through  similar  expe- 
riences Himself,  and  hence  able  to  sympathize 
with  their  griefs — as  having  gloriously  triumphed 
and  risen  to  blessed  immortality  notwithstanding 
that  He  suffered  and  died — as  being  indeed  just 
such  a  lyord  and  Saviour  as  they  needed  to  keep 
them  amid  their  tribulations  and  bring  them 
through  to  final  glory  and  blessedness. 

It  is  something  for  poor  sufferers  to  know  that 
they  have  some  one  in  whom  to  trust  who  is 
qualified  to  master  the  case;  that  it  is  not  in  an 
arm  of  flesh  they  hope;  that  He  whom  they  look 
to  as  their  Saviour  is  the  same  who  saw  the  stars 
kindle  and  suns  bud  into  being,  and  who  will  live 
on  in  the  same  unwaning  life  and  majesty  should 
stars  and  suns  expire  and  all  material  creations  be 
changed  like  a  wornout  garment.  Nay  more,  that 
while  His  hands  propel  the  worlds  in  their  cir- 


TO  Tin-:  CHURCH  of  Smyrna.  73 

cuits  He  wears  the  nature  of  a  brother-man,  and 
has  a  heart  that  beats  in  sympathy  with  every 
pang  in  ours;  that  He  Himself  has  gone  through 
heavier  sorrows  and  a  far  deeper  death  than  any 
that  can  ever  come  upon  His  believing  followers; 
that  He  bears  with  Him  upon  His  heavenly  throne 
the  thorn-marks  and  the  nail-prints  to  keep  alive 
His  tenderness  and  consideration  for  His  sorrow- 
ing people  on  earth,  still  struggling  with  trib- 
ulation and  death  for  His  name's  sake;  and 
that  in  the  power  of  an  endless  life  He  ever 
lives,  the  imperishable  vanquisher  of  all  the 
potencies  of  death  and  hell.  Thus  the  blessed 
Lord  Jesus  presented  Himself  to  these  suffering 
saints  at  Smyrna,  as  also  to  all  His  people,  in 
their  trials. 

Very  tenderly  also  does  He  speak:  "/  knozv  thy 
worksy  These  works  were  neither  many  nor 
great.  The  people  were  too  poor,  too  oppressed, 
too  feeble  and  afflicted,  to  do  any  great  things. 
But  the  smallness  of  their  works  did  not  exclude 
them  from  the  loving  Saviour's  regard.  He  no- 
tices the  mite  of  the  widow  as  well  as  the  costh 
donations  of  the  rich.  He  estimates  men  accord- 
ing- to  the  grace  in  the  heart,  and  not  according 
to  the  strength  in  the  hand.  He  does  not  look 
so  much  at  the  brilliancy  of  our  deeds  as  at  the 
cheerful  willingness  of  the  soul  to  do  what  it  can. 
Not  the  greatness  of  the  outward  achievement, 


74  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

but  the  inward  principle  of  devoted  love,  is  what 
He  considers. 

Great  things  are  expected  of  those  who  have 
ten  talents,  and  it  will  be  all  the  worse  for  them 
if  their  works  do  not  come  up  to  their  ability;  but 
the  faithful  employment  of  one  talent,  if  that  be 
all  we  have,  though  the  results  may  count  little 
or  nothing  in  men's  esteem,  is  as  great  and  pre- 
cious to  the  heart  of  Jesus  as  the  more  showy 
works  of  the  rich  and  mighty.  The  penny  of 
the  little  child  and  the  prayers  of  the  helpless 
invalid  are  as  dear  to  Jesus  and  rise  as  high  in 
heaven  as  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  the 
millionnaire  or  the  achievements  of  the  Church's 
strongest  champions.  When  people  have  it  not 
in  their  power  to  do,  and  yet  with  earnest  and 
devoted  heart  do  what  thev  can,  and  out  of  their 
weakness  and  penury  show  that  the  living  power 
of  grace  is.  in  them,  even  their  little  works  rise 
like  incense  to  the  skies  and  have  their  record  in 
the  notice  and  commendation  of  our  Lord  equally 
with  the  greater  things  of  those  who  possess  su- 
perior ability.  To  the  poorest  and  the  weakest, 
as  well  as  to  the  richest  and  the  strongest,  the 
Saviour  says,  ^'' I  know  thy  worksy  And  whether 
we  do  much  or  little,  exert  ourselves  to  the  full 
stretch  of  our  ability  or  lag  behind  in  what  we 
might  readily  achieve,  we  need  never  think  that 
our  Lord  and  Judge  is  not  taking  note  of  it,  or 


rO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SMYRNA.  75 

that  He  does  not  take  full  measure  of  it  accord- 
ing to  what  is  in  our  power  and  what  is  not. 

But  Jesus  not  only  took  knowledge  of  the 
"e£W>('^"  of  this  poor  church,  but  also  of  its 
afflicted  estate.  "/  know  tJiy  tribulation  aiid 
poverty ^^^  says  He;  and  a  whole  volume  of  grace 
and  tenderness  was  in  those  words. 

Christian  suffering,  like  Christian  rejoicing,  is 
something  of  a  mystery  to  the  world.  The  car- 
nal mind  cannot  understand  it,  and  takes  little  or 
no  account  of  it.  The  world  does  not  at  all  enter 
into  a  Christian's  experience  or  a  Christian's  trib- 
ulation. A  true  child  of  God  grieves  over  things 
which  the  world  cares  nothing  for,  and  rejoices  in 
things  in  which  the  world  sees  no  happiness.  As 
John  wrote,  so  it  is  ever:  "The  world  knoweth 
us  not,  because  it  knew  Him  not."  But  our  Sa- 
viour knoweth — "/  knoiv  thy  tribnlationy  Not 
as  a  spy,  not  as  an  inquisitor,  not  in  the  cold  om- 
niscience of  one  who  knows  everything,  but  as 
the  head  knows  the  hurt  that  has  befallen  some 
member  of  the  bod}' — as  a  mother  contemplates 
the  suffering  of  her  darling  child — as  a  generous 
heart  enters  into  the  misfortunes  of  his  near  and 
dear  friend, — so  does  Jesus  know  our  tribulation. 
He  knows  it  not  only  with  the  head,  but  with  the 
heart. 

He  knows  it  as  a  thing  which  He  Himself  has 
either  sent  or  permitted.     Nothing  can  happen 


76  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

without  Him  who  is  ''  head  over  all  things  to  the 
Church."  There  is  no  such  thing  as  chance — no 
fortuitous  concourse  of  things  to  affect  and  shape 
destiny  without  amenability  to  the  all-governing 
power  now  lodged  in  the  hands  of  Jesus.  No 
tribulation  can  come  to  a  Christian — no  headache 
or  heartache,  no  fever  or  consumption,  no  loss  of 
fortune  or  treachery  of  friends,  no  bereavement, 
no  persecution,  no  weakness,  no  poverty,  no  days 
of  darkness  or  temptation,  no  distress  of  body  or 
sorrow  of  soul — but  as  Jesus  wills,  appoints,  or 
allows.  We  may  often  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  but 
it  is  the  fact  all  the  same,  that  never  a  woe  falls 
upon  us  which  has  not  first  been  in  the  wise  con- 
sideration and  beneficent  bosom  of  our  blessed 
Lord  and  Saviour.  It  had  to  receive  its  commis- 
sion from  His  loving  heart  before  it  could  touch 
us.  He  therefore  knows  our  tribulation,  and 
knows  it  far  better  than  we  ourselves. 

He  also  knows  the  need  and  use  of  it.  He 
might  prevent  it  if  He  would,  but  that  might 
not  be  the  best.  It  would  not  be  well  for  us  if 
we  were  never  afflicted,  never  disappointed,  never 
crossed  or  troubled  in  our  passage  through  this 
world.  Uninterrupted  prosperity  would  be  seri- 
ous misfortune  to  a  Christian.  There  is  "  a  needs 
be"  that  trial  and  suffering  should  come  to  disci- 
pline and  soften  us.  A  hurt  child  thinks  of  its 
parent,  and  hastens  to  that  parent  with  its  misfor- 


ro  THE  CHURCH  OF  SMYRNA.  yy 

tune,  and  is  all  the  more  loving  and  devoted  when 
properly  rebuked  and  chastised  for  its  errors  and 
wrong-doings;  and  we  need  similar  experience, 
that  we  may  remember  whose  we  are  and  where 
to  find  our  true  help  and  comfort.  Each  heart 
knows  its  own  sorr.ows  best,  but,  whatever  the 
grief,  there  is  some  moral  and  spiritual  need  for 
it.  However  inexplicable  to  us,  Jesus  understands 
it,  and  knows  what  it  is  to  do  for  us  and  what  the 
mischief  would  be  without  it. 

It  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  sickness, 
bereavements,  losses,  reverses,  disappointments, 
and  sufferings  for  us  in  this  world.  They  go 
along  with  Christ's  sufferings  to  fulfil  an  import- 
ant office  in  helping  us  to  our  better  destiny. 
Afflictions  and  trials  are  some  of  the  links  in  the 
chain  which  is  to  lift  us  to  true  faith  and  trust  in 
God,  and  which  cannot  be  dispensed  with  until 
we  come  to  the  heavenly  kingdom,  where  such 
discipline  is  no  more  needed.  Like  surgical  ope- 
rations to  save  the  life  of  the  body,  so  earthly  af- 
flictions are  to  aid  in  saving  the  life  of  the  soul. 
Our  heavenly  Physician  knows  this,  and  hence 
does  not  exempt  us  from  sharp,  disabling,  and 
bitter  pains  and  sorrowful  experiences  here  on 
earth.  A  true  believer  is  always  made  better  by 
suffering,  and  can  often  reach  and  accomplish 
through  his  adversities  what  could  not  have  been 
without  them.      And,   whatever  the  tribulation, 


yS  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

Jesus  knows  it  and  has  weighed  all  the  purposes 
of  goodness  and  grace  for  which  it  is  sent  or  per- 
mitted. 

It  is  a  hard  thing  to  suffer  and  to  be  always  ex- 
posed to  the  buflfetings  and  ills  of  this  world;  but 
it  is  also  a  precious  thing  if  we  did  but  see  it  in 
all  its  bearings  and  effects.  Darkness  is  repulsive, 
but  we  need  it  in  order  to  see  the  beauty  of  the 
stars.  I  doubt  not  that  the  redeemed  in  heaven 
will  as  earnestly  thank  the  I^ord  for  what  they 
suffer  here  as  for  their  days  of  peace,  health,  and 
sunshine.  Heaven  will  be  all  the  sweeter  and 
more  enjoyable  for  the  sorrows  of  the  way  through 
which  it  has  been  reached.  Myriads  will  be  there 
at  last  who  never  would  have  reached  that  blessed 
world  but  for  the  tribulations  they  experienced  on 
earth.  All  this  is  plain  to  our  blessed  Saviour's 
eyes,  and  hence  He  does  not  exempt  us  from 
earthly  trials. 

But  He  also  knows  our  tribulation  to  sympa- 
thize with  us  in  it.  It  is  as  painful  to  a  loving 
parent  to  chastise  an  erring  child  as  it  is  for  the 
child;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  Jesus  has  no  pleas- 
ure in  the  pains  and  trials  which  yet  are  so  need- 
ful for  us.  Not  a  pang  goes  through  the  heart  of 
a  child  of  God  but  it  also  goes  through  the  heart 
of  Christ.  Whatsoever  is  done  to  the  least  of 
these  He  takes  as  done  unto  Himself  Christians 
are  members  of  His  body,   of  His  flesh,   and  of 


TO    THE    CllURCIJ    OF  SMYRNA.  79 

His  bones;  and  when  they  are  hurt  He  feels  it 
even  upon  His  throne,  "  for  we  have  not  an  high 
priest  which  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirniity."  He  has  been  through  the  fires 
and  knows  the  pains  they  give,  and  He  is  not  un- 
moved as  He  sees  His  people  writhing  in  the 
scorching  flames.  He  sits  by  the  crucible  like  a 
refiner  of  silver,  intensely  watching  the  precious 
metal  while  he  directs  and  fans  the  fires,  looking 
to  see  His  own  image  reflected  in  the  shining  mass 
that  He  may  then  quickly  deliver  it  from  the 
burning.  Not  one  pang  or  moment  more  in  fire 
than  is  needed  to  this  end  will  He  allow;  and 
during  all  the  process  His  loving  eyes  and  anx- 
ious heart  are  with  the  sufferer  in  the  trying 
pains.  What  necessity  requires  Him  to  appoint 
He  softens  by  His  .sympathizing  tenderness. 
However  lowly  and  poor  and  neglected  and  for- 
gotten the  suffering  child  of  God  may  be,  there 
is  an  electric  cord  between  it  and  Him.  Nothing 
can  happen  to  us  here  that  is  not  at  the  same  time 
before  His  presence  in  heaven.  He  knows  our 
tribulation  and  our  poverty — knows  it  to  feel  for 
us  and  to  sustain  and  comfort  us  in  it  and  to  direct 
it  to  our  greater  glory  in  the  end. 

These  people  of  Smyrna  were  great  sufferers. 
A  powerful  class  of  men,  claiming  to  be  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  only  true  religion,  did  all  they 
could  to  bring  them  into  contempt  and  disgrace. 


8o  THE   LETl'ERS    OE  JESUS. 

The  heathen  were  very  adverse  to  them.  They 
were  enduring  much,  and  were  to  encounter  still 
severer  woes.  By  the  malignity  of  their  enemies 
some  of  them  were  to  be  cast  into  prison,  others 
to  die  as  martyrs,  and  fearful  trial  was  to  be  upon 
them  all.  Polycarp,  the  friend  and  disciple  of  St. 
John,  was  then  their  venerable  pastor.  For  many 
long  years  he  had  labored  and  suffered  with  them. 
But  he  was  to  be  taken  from  them  and  burned 
alive  because  he  would  not  deny  Christ  and  abjure 
allegiance  to  the  Saviour  whom  he  served  and 
preached. 

An  account  of  the  martyrdom  of  this  noble  man 
has  come  down  to  us.  Dragged  before  the  Roman 
proconsul,  he  was  promised  liberty  if  only  he  would 
abjure  Christ,  but  his  answer  was,  "  Highty-and- 
six  years  have  I  served  Him,  and  He  hath  never 
wronged  me;  and  how  can  I  blaspheme  my  King, 
who  hath  saved  me?"  At  this  touching  confes- 
sion Jews  and  heathen  alike  clamored  to  have  him 
burnt  alive,  and  hurried  to  gather  the  fuel  for  the 
purpose.  When  they  were  about  to  fasten  him  to 
the  stake  he  bade  them  spare  their  nails — that 
God  would  keep  him  steadfast  in  the  fires  without 
the  need  of  such  fastenings;  and  counted  it  a 
blessedness  to  be  thought  worthy  of  a  place 
among:  the  martvrs  of  Jesus.  And  even  amid 
the  fires  which  consumed  his  mortal  body  he  was 
heard  singing  and  praising  God  and  blessing  the 


70    llIE    CHURCH   OF  SMYRNA.  8 1 

name  of  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  He  was  "the 
angel"  of  the  church  to  whom  the  word  w^as, 
"Fear  none  of  those  things  which  thou  shalt 
suffer.  Be  faithful  unto  death  and  I  will  g-ive 
thee  a  crown  of  life."  And  this  is  the  way  the 
holy  man  fulfilled  the  divine  directions. 

We  know  not,  dear  friends,  what  awaits  us  in 
the  future.  We  only  know  that  in  this  world  we 
shall  have  tribulation.  Our  calling  in  Christ  Je- 
sus necessarily  leads  through  suffering  and  trial. 
It  may  be  lighter  to  some  and  heavier  to  others; 
"  but  what  son  is  he  whom  the  Father  chasteneth 
not  ?' '  It  is  well  that  our  eyes  are  holden  from 
what  the  chastisement  is  to  be,  lest  we  should  be 
unfitted  for  present  dut}-;  but  we  may  well  believe 
that  the  brightest  home  and  the  happiest  heart 
will  find  coming  days  of  trial,  shadow,  and  dark- 
ness. 

And  yet  there  is  no  reason  to  anticipate  the  day 
of  ill  and  sorrow  with  dread  and  trembling.  All 
things  are  under  the  dominion  of  the  loving  Je- 
sus, and  His  word  is,  '  ''Fear  no7ie  of  those  ihiiigs 
which  thoti  shalt  suffer^  Christ  also  suffered, 
leaving  us  an  example  that  we  should  follow  His 
steps.  Though  persecuted  unto  death,  a  man  of 
sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  He  soon  lived 
again,  and  is  alive  and  crowned  for  ever  in  heav- 
enly majesty  and  glory.  And  as  it  was  no  loss  to 
Him  that  He  suffered,  so  neither  will   it  be  to 

6 


82  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

those  who  like  Him  commit  themselves  unto  God 
as  unto  a  faithful  Creator. 

We  may  be  disposed  to  pity  the  man  who  pines 
in  sickness,  or  whose  home  bereavement  has  hung 
with  desolation  and  mourning,  or  who  is  called 
to  wrestle  with  the  pangs  and  straits  of  poverty, 
or  whom  reverses  of  fortune  have  bereft  of  the 
accumulations  of  years  of  toil.  But  it  is  a  mis- 
placed pity,  "for  if  ye  be  without  chastisement, 
whereof  all  are  partakers,  then  are  3'e  bastards, 
and  not  sons."  There  is  more  of  divine  goodness 
and  mercy  in  it  than  if  it  were  not.  When  the 
burden  is  the  heaviest,  then  redeeming  grace  is 
nearest. 

There  is  nothing  like  the  darkness  to  lift  up 
people's  eyes  toward  heaven.  The  afflictions  of 
time,  to  those  who  love  God,  are  all  investments 
to  yield  the  sublimer  revenues  in  eternity.  They 
are  the  opportunities  God  gives  for  the  better  ex- 
emplification and  strengthening  of  our  faith,  and 
which  open  the  way  to  immortal  crowns.  And 
shall  we  pity  those  to  whom  God  thus  comes  with 
chance  for  grander  promotions  in  heaven  ?  Shall 
we  deprecate  what  is  sent  to  bring  us  to  eternal 
glories?  Nay,"  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth 
temptation:  for  when  he  is  tried  he  shall  receive 
the  crown  of  life." 

The  great  matter  for  us  is  to  be  faithful;  that 
is,  to  be  full  of  faith  and  confidence  in  the  lyord 


TO    THE  .CHURCH  OF  SMYRNA.  '^^ 

Jesus,  and  to  be  true  to  that  faith  even  if  it  should 
cost  us  our  lives.  At  the  worst,  the  sufferings  of 
time  are  limited  and  will  soon  be  over.  They  en- 
dure but  for  a  moment.  They  are  light  as  com- 
pared with  those  which  Jesus  endured  for  us. 
And  if  courageously  endured  without  faltering 
in  our  faith,  they  connect  with  everlasting  gains. 
The  cross  is  the  way  to  the  crown.  Though  our 
life  here  be  a  living  death,  if  we  but  hold  on  vic- 
toriously in  our  sacred  confidence  the  present 
dying  will  all  the  more  certainly  exempt  from 
that  worse  death  to  come  to  the  unfaithful  and 
unbelieving.  Christians  have  all  their  purgatory 
in  this  world,  and  beyond  is  "a  crown  of  life" 
for  every  courageous  and  faithful  soul.  Yea, 
saith  the  Saviour,  "Be  thou  faithful  unto  death, 
and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life." 

There  is  yet  one  important  remark  thrown  in 
parenthetically  by  the  Saviour  in  describing  the 
state  of  these  afflicted  Smyrniotes.  Though  their 
works  were  few  and  weak,  their  tribulation  great, 
their  poverty  extreme,  yet  He  says,  ' '  but  thou  art 
richy  It  seems  like  a  contradiction,  but  there  is 
a  wealth  which  is  poverty,  and  a  poverty  which 
is  riches.  The  poorest  to  the  world's  eye  may 
yet  be  the  richest  toward  God,  and  the  richest  in 
the  things  of  this  world  may  be  the  poorest  in  the 
eyes  of  Christ.     These  people  were  rich  in  their 


84  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

poverty,  and  their  very  poverty  was  riches,  just  as 
the  sorrows  they  experienced  in  this  world  helped 
to  make  clear  their  title  to  the  priceless  treasures 
of  eternity.  A  believing  poor  man  is  ten  thou- 
sand times  richer  than  a  Croesus  or  a  Rothschild 
without  living  faith  and  trust  in  Jesus.  If  we 
would  be  rich  indeed,  we  must  first  of  all  have 
our  hearts  set  on  the  true  riches  and  live  for  the 
heavenl}'  crown. 

Oh,  give  me  the  flowers  that  droop  not  nor  die ! 
A  treasure  up  yonder !  a  home  in  the  sky, 
Where  beautiful  things  in  their  beauty  still  stay, 
And  where  riches  ne'er  fly  from  the  blessed  away ! 


iLecture  dfiftt* 

Rev.  2  :  12,  13:  "And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Pergamos 
write :  These  things  saith  he  which  hath  the  sharp  sword  with  two 
edges;  I  know  thy  works,  and  where  thou  dwellest,  even  where  Sa- 
tan's seat  is  :  and  thou  holdest  fast  my  name,  and  hast  not  denied  my 
faith,  even  in  those  days  wherein  Antipas  was  my  faithful  martyr,  who 
was  slain  among  you,  where  vSatan  dwelleth." 

HE  Letter  to  the  poor  and  sorely-tried 
church  of  Smyrna  was  one  of  ahnost 
unmingled  eulogy  and  encouragement, 
even  though  it  had  false  professors  to  contend 
with.  Its  afflictions  seem  to  have  been  good  for 
it,  and  to  have  helped  to  keep  it  alive  and  true  to 
its  Saviour  and  to  its  profession.  It  was  different 
with  the  church  at  Pergamos.  That  was  prosper- 
ous in  some  things,  but  defective  in  others.  The 
Letter  to  it  has  in  it  various  censures,  admoni- 
tions, and  rebukes.  It  had  a  distinguished  and 
honorable  record  in  some  respects,  but  some 
things  were  creeping  in  which  needed  to  be 
corrected  in  order  to  the  maintenance  of  proper 
Christian  fidelity  and  devotion. 

The  Saviour  presents  Himself  to  this  church 
as   "He  which  hath   the  sharp  sword  with  two 

85 


86  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

edges."  In  the  preceding  chapter  this  sword  is 
spoken  of  as  proceeding  out  of  the  Saviour's 
mouth.  It  is  therefore  something  of  a  zvord- 
sword.  The  office  of  a  sword  is  to  pierce,  cut, 
sever,  and  kill,  and  a  similar  office  belongs  to  the 
divine  word.  Though  intended  to  save,  it  is  also 
intended  to  kill.  Paul  says  "the  word  of  God  is ^ 
quick  and  powerful" — a   living  and    potent  in-  * 

strument — "sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword, 
piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow."  It  is  not 
so  much  an  instrument  of  physical  death  as  an 
instrument  of  moral  cleavage,  which  cuts  into 
souls,  penetrates  consciences,  divides  between  true 
and  false,  whether  in  doctrine,  sentiment,  or  life, 
and  acts  as  a  killing  thing  to  what  is  at  variance 
with  truth  and  righteousness.  It  makes  havoc 
of  the  hopes  and  good  opinions  which  sinners 
have  of  themselves,  pierces,  wounds,  and  lacer- 
ates their  self-security,  cuts  right  and  left  against 
everything  contrary  to  God,  hews  down  the  tow- 
ering conceit  of  the  proud  and  self-sufficient,  and 
utterly  slays  the  false  hopes  by  which  many  fond- 
ly deceive  themselves.  Paul  at  one  time  took 
great  credit  to  himself  as  a  holy  and  saintly  man, 
and  thought  he  was  a  very  hero  of  Jehovah's 
cause  while  trying  to  crush  out  the  growing 
Church  of  Christ.  But  when  this  sword  of  the 
Spirit  penetrated  his  soul  he  says  he  ^''  died^     It 


TO  rijR  CHURCH  of  pergamos.  87 

killed  him — killed  liiiii  in  that  valuation  of  him- 
self in  which  he  previously  lived  and  gloried. 
And  there  is  always  in  the  word  an  active  judg- 
ment-power which  slays  the  wicked,  and  under 
which  the  finally  impenitent  must  go  down  into 
death  eternal. 

In  this  church  of  Perg^amos  there  was  a  sfood 
deal  which  needed  moral  surgery.  There  was 
some  moral  cutting  and  killing  to  be  done  to 
bring  all  right — a  severance  between  things  which 
did  not  belong  together,  and  the  destruction  of 
evils  which  had  taken  shape  and  were  working 
unfavorably.  Hence  the  Saviour  addressed  them 
as  He  wdio  has  the  double-edged  sword,  intimating 
something  of  what  He  was  about  to  say  and  do 
in  the  character  He  takes.  The  exhibition  of  the 
knife  bespoke  moral  cleavage  and  dissection,  in 
which  there  was  to  be  no  sparing  of  the  wrong, 
and  death  to  everything  foreign  and  offensive  to 
the  truth.  Nor  is  there  any  comfort,  hope,  or 
standino^  for  anv  Church  or  for  anv  man  against 
the  word  and  truth  of  God.  There  goeth  forth 
out  of  the  mouth  of  Christ  a  sword  of  double  edge, 
tempered,  like  the  old  Damascus  blade,  to  trim  a 
feather  and  cut  an  iron  bar,  and  fitted  to  pierce 
and  cleave  and  smite  and  kill  everything  that  rises 
against  truth  and  righteousness.  One  reason  why 
so  many  hate  and  avoid  the  truth  of  God  is  that 
it  hurts  them,  awaking  the  lashes  of  conscience 


8S  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

and  utterly  destroying  their  hopes.     And  this  sort 
of  hurt  was  now  to  come  to  this  church. 

But  only  favorable  things  are  noted  first.  The 
same  announcement  made  with  regard  to  the  other 
churches  is  made  to  this:  "/  knozv  thy  worksy 
These  are  sweet  words  to  those  who  are  honestly 
toiling  in  the  Lord^s  cause,  though  anything  but 
assuring  to  the  unfaithful  and  the  wicked.  It 
surely  is  a  comfort  and  encouragement  to  the  good 
to  know  that  every  thought  and  act  of  devotion 
to  the  Saviour  is  like  a  ray  of  light  rising  to  the 
approving  view  of  Heaven,  to  be  treasured  among 
the  glories  of  Jehovah's  throne;  that  every  deed 
of  love  and  duty,  however  unknown  to  men,  has 
a  voice  that  is  heard  in  heaven;  and  that  though 
it  should  be  no  more  than  the  gift  of  a  cup  of  cold 
water  to  a  thirsty  disciple  or  a  prayer  of  earnest 
intercession  breathed  in  solitude,  it  is  registered 
in  the  mind  of  Jesus  for  appropriate  honor  and. 
reward. 

But  with  our  works  Christ  also  notes  our  places 
and  surroundings.  The  church  of  Pergamos  was 
unfavorably  located.  It  had  hard  struggles  for  its 
life  because  of  its  unfavorable  neighborhood.  But 
Jesus  took  account  of  this.  The  word  is,  "I 
know  thy  works,  and  where  iJiou  dwellest^  even 
where  Satan'' s  scat  is.^^  Whatever  is  to  be  un- 
derstood by  this  throne  of  Satan,  the  language 
assigns    to    Pergamos    the    bad    pre-eminence   of 


TO    THE    CIJURCII   OF  PR  RG  AM  OS.  89 

being  a  head-centre  of  antagonism  to  Christ  and 
the  Gospel.  It  was  a  very  nn wholesome  atmo- 
sphere in  which  to  grow  plants  of  grace,  an  ill 
vicinage  for  the  development  of  a  pure  church  of 
Christ.  That  little  congregation  was  therefore 
like  a  bark  launched  upon  a  stormy  sea — like  a 
lone  rose  blooming  amid  desert  sands — like  a  flow- 
eret amid  Alpine  snows — like  a  blossom  opening 
out  upon  the  bosom  of  an  avalanche, — where  ex- 
istence was  very  precarious.  But  Jesus  had  not 
failed  to  note  the  fact,  and  to  consider  all  the  dif- 
ficulties and  perils  of  the  situation. 

Christians,  especially  young  Christians,  often 
find  themselves  in  very  unfavorable  associations 
and  surroundings.  Sometimes  they  are  thrown 
into  godless  families,  where  prayer  is  ridiculed, 
the  Bible  made  a  jest  of,  religion  scorned,  and 
anxiety  about  salvation  rated  as  a  craziness.  Or 
their  place  may  be  in  houses  of  business  whose 
heads  are  mere  worldlings  or  skeptics,  and  the 
employes  are  mostly  profane  and  godless.  Or 
they  may  be  thrown  into  engagements,  pursuits, 
and  duties  which  for  the  time  exclude  them  from 
the  place  of  worship,  from  the  Lord's  Day  rest, 
and  from  the  company  of  fellow-believers.  Or 
they  may  be  forced  along  by  a  certain  rush  and 
tide  of  things  contrary  to  their  wishes  and  against 
their  better  convictions.  All  such  are  in  adverse 
and  trying  situations,  making  it  hard  to  maintain 


90  THE    LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

a  correct  and  devoted  life.  But  Jesus  considers  it, 
and  knows  where  the}-  dwell,  and  sympathizes 
tenderly  with  His  tried  and  disabled  children  who 
fain  would  honor  and  serve  Him  better  but  for  the 
hindrances  they  cannot  control.  He  knows  it  to 
consider  it,  and  to  sympathize  with  the  hard  ne- 
cessity, though  not  to  excuse  unfaithfulness.  Be- 
cause these  people  dwelt  where  Satan's  throne 
was,  they  were  judged  with  leniency;  but  where- 
in they  were  unfaithful  or  untrue  they  were  still 
rebuked  and  condemned. 

Barks  on  stormy  seas,   and   roses  amid   desert 
sands,  and  flowerets  amid  Alpine  snows,  and  blos- 
soms opening  on  the  bosom  of  the  avalanche,  may 
still  live,  and  God  means  that  they  should  live, 
and  they  blamably  fail  of  their  destiny  if  they  do 
not.     Good  soldiers  must  do  picket  duty  in  isola- 
tion from  the  massed  body  of  the  army  as  well  as 
stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  their  comrades  in 
line  of  battle.     We  may   not  expect  dahlias   to 
flourish  by  the  side  of  glaciers,  but  we  may  yet 
look  there  for  plants  and  flowers,  perhaps  a  little 
different   in   their  order  and   less   luxuriant   and 
towering  in   their  growth,    but  still  holding  up 
their  little  bells  of  sacred  purity  to  God  and  re- 
flecting from  their  ice-bound  homes  the  rainbow 
tints  and  modest  graces  of  the  skies.     x\nd  so  it 
was    in    the    case    of   this    church    of   Pergamos. 
Though  planted  in  close  neighborhood  with  Sa- 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PERGAMOS.  9 1 

tan's  throne,  it  still  grew  some  blessed  flowers  of 
grace  and  genuine  devotion. 

Notice  the  items  mentioned  to  its  credit: 
"^Thou  holdest  fast  My  namcy  The  Proverbs 
declare  that  "The  name  of  the  Lord  is  a  strong 
tower;  the  righteous  runneth  into  it  and  is  set  on 
high."  And  so  Christians  are  said  to  be  washed, 
justified,  sanctified  ''///  the  name  of  the  Lord  Je- 
sus." The  name  of  Christ  is  that  which  presents 
Christ,  which  makes  Him  known  to  us,  which 
brings  Him  within  the  range  of  our  apprehension 
and  faith.  Holding  fast  His  name  is  holding  fast 
to  ///;;/  as  we  have  learned  to  know  Him  and  to 
trust  in  Him. 

There  are  many  expressions  and  words  by  which 
Christ  is  presented  to  us  and  by  which  we  learn 
who  and  what  He  is;  but  they  are  all  His  name. 
Confessing  and  holding  to  what  we  thus  learn  and 
know  of  Him  as  our  Lord  and  Saviour  is  confess- 
ing and  holding  to  His  name.  The  angel  said, 
"  Call  His  name  Jesus,"  which  sets  Him  forth  as 
our  Saviour — the  one  in  whom  standeth  our  sal- 
vation. He  was  also  "called  the  Christ^^^  which 
presents  Him  as  God's  anointed  One^  the  long- 
promised  Prophet  and  King  spoken  of  by  all  the 
ancient  seers  as  He  who  was  to  come  to  be  the 
deliverer  of  His  people.  Jeremiah  said  of  Him, 
"This  is  His  name  whereby  He  shall  be  called, 
The  Lord  our  Righteousness  ;' '  and  Isaiah  prophe- 


9  2  THE   L  E  T7  E  A'S    OF  JES  US. 

sied  of  Him,  they  "shall  call  His  name  Imman- 
icel^^^  which,  being  interpreted,  is  God  with  its. 
All  of  these  are  alike  Christ's  name,  and  tell  what 
He  is,  and  express  what  we  are  to  take  and  hold 
Him  to  be. 

If  He  is  our  Righteousness,  then  He  is  the  pro- 
pitiation for  our  sins,  taking  them  upon  Himself 
to  atone  for  and  cancel  them,  while  He  puts  His 
holy  obedience  and  justifying  merit  upon  us  in 
their  place.  The  whole  doctrine  of  substitution, 
of  redemption  through  His  blood,  of  acceptance 
with  God  through  the  virtue  of  His  sacrifice  for 
us,  is  thus  included.  And  to  hold  fast  to  this 
name  of  Christ  is  to  believe  in  Him,  to  cling  to 
Him  as  our  substitute  and  propitiation,  to  plead 
and  rest  on  His  righteousness  as  the  ground  of 
our  forgiveness  and  justification. 

And  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite  to  His 
being  our  Righteousness  His  further  name  is  God 
ivith  us.  No  mere  creature-righteousness  could 
ever  avail  for  us.  Only  He  who  is  above  law 
could  merit  by  obedience  to  the  law,  and  only  in 
the  nature  which  had  sinned  could  the  required 
obedience  and  sacrifice  be  rendered.  He  therefore 
had  to  be  both  God  and  man  in  one.  Nor  can  we 
have  a  right  and  sure  idea  of  God  except  as  mani- 
fested in  Jesus  Christ.  As  we  are  sinful  beings, 
we  cannot  know  what  to  hope  from  God  except 
as  He  has  revealed  Himself  and  His  will  in  Jesus. 


TO    THE    CIILRCn    OF  F  ERG  AMOS.  93 

If  He  is  just,  how  can  He  relax  His  justice  to 
pardon  sin?  x\nd  if  He  is  merciful  to  forgive  sin 
and  to  require  nothing  for  it,  how  can  He  main- 
tain His  moral  government?  How  far,  then,  His 
justice  will  relax  in  the  punishment  of  sin,  or 
His  mercy  triumph  in  pardoning  sin,  no  one  can 
tell;  and  there  is  nothing  certain  on  which  to  base 
our  hopes.  It  is  only  as  we  see  sovereign  justice, 
a  Father's  love,  and  a  Creator's  power  combined 
and  harmonized  in  Jesus  that  we  come  to  see  and 
know  how  salvation  can  come.  God  cannot  for- 
give sin  without  ample  satisfaction  for  it;  and  yet 
He  can  forgive  the  greatest  sinner  because  Christ 
has  died  and  stands  suret)-  for  him.  Here  alone 
we  find  a  clear  and  certain  basis  for  confidence 
and  hope.  Christ  being  the  I^ord  our  Righteous- 
ness, we  see  and  know,  to  our  joy,  that  God  can 
be  just  and  yet  justify  the  ungodly.  In  nature 
God  is  above  us,  so  that  we  cannot  reach  or  know 
Him;  in  the  law,  He  is  against  us  and  a  consum- 
ing fire  to  the  guilty,  so  that  we  dare  not  approach 
Him;  but  in  Christ  He  is  our  reconciled  Father, 
waiting  and  anxious  to  welcome  us  to  His  bosom. 

And  to  Him  we  can  now  come  with  all  the  lib- 
erty and  confidence  of  dear  children. 

This  Name,  then,  this  apprehension  of  the  blessed 
lyord  Jesus,  these  people  held  fast.  There  were 
some  who  would  not  at  all  believe  or  receive  it, 
but  these  Christians  held  it  fast.     To  their  credit 


94  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

and  honor  it  is  said  of  them,  ''Thou  holdest  fast 
My  name,  and  hast  not  denied  My  faith.''  Not  all 
the  terrors  of  martyrdom  could  induce  them  to  let 
go  their  confidence  and  hope  thus  built  upon  the 
Saviour's  name.  They  held  firm,  "even  in  those 
days  wherein  Antipas  was  His  faithful  martyr, 
who  was  slain  among  them,  where  Satan  dwelt." 

And  this  is  ever  the  chief  thing  in  Christianity, 
that  we  hold  fast  to  Christ's  name  as  the  anointed 
Saviour,  the  Lord  our  Righteousness,  God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh.  Without  this  all  knowledge,  all 
works,  all  virtues  are  nothing  toward  our  salva- 
tion, and  can  give  us  no  sure  hope  of  pardon  for 
our  sins — no  ground  on  which  to  count  on  heaven. 
^^Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son  of  Godf^  is  ever 
the  vital  question  with  us;  and  without  that  faith 
there  is  nothing  left  but  a  fearful  looking-for  of 
judgment  and  fiery  indignation.  But,  holding 
fast  such  a  faith,  and  building  only  on  this  name 
of  Jesus,  we  can  afford  to  suffer  for  it  in  this 
world,  and  endure  to  be  ridiculed,  persecuted,  and 
even  killed;  for  He  who  is  our  Hope  will  not  for- 
sake us  or  go  back  from  His  name. 

It  is  further  particularly  emphasized  to  the 
credit  of  these  people  of  the  church  of  Pergamos 
that  they  had  not  denied  the  Christian  faith;  in 
other  words,  that  they  were  not  ashamed  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  There  was  much  in  it  by  which 
they  might  have  been  tempted  to  be  ashamed  of 


rO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PERGAMOS.  95 

it.  Its  Author  was  crucified  as  a  malefactor  and 
a  slave.  All  the  ^^reat  and  mighty  of  the  earth 
despised  it,  and  nobody  of  account  paid  any  re- 
gard to  it.  Its  professors  were  all  poor,  unlearned, 
and  untitled  people,  held  to  be  the  dregs  and  off- 
scourings of  the  earth.  Some  of  its  chief  doc- 
trines were  considered  absurd.  Its  principles  were 
at  war  with  the  whole  spirit  of  society  as  then 
constituted.  It  seemed  to  most  to  be  nothine  but 
a  pestilential  fanaticism  which  ought  to  be  crushed 
out  with  the  arm  of  power.  It  was  a  more  unsa- 
vory thing  to  the  elite  of  that  day  than  Mormon- 
ism  is  now  to  the  more  respectable  classes  of  our 
time.  But  still,  they  were  not  ashamed  of  it  nor 
put  out  of  countenance  in  holding  to  it  and  boldly 
professing  it.  And  for  this  Christ  commends 
them. 

xA.nd  with  all  that  was  humiliating  in  the  Gos- 
pel, there  was  much  more  in  which  to  glor}'. 
With  the  humiliation  there  was  the  constant 
presence  of  the  divine.  If  Christ  was  born  in 
poverty,  in  a  stable,  without  earthly  friends  or 
favors,  the  angels  of  heaven  filled  the  sky  with 
joyous  proclamations  and  highest  songs  over  His 
nativity,  and  the  stars  pointed  out  that  a  glorious 
King  had  made  His  advent  into  our  world.  Nev- 
er was  there  a  march  through  human  life  so  ra- 
diant from  first  to  last  with  divine  sublimity  as 
His.     Great  Nature's  powers  were  more  at  His 


96  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

command  than  Rome's  legions  at  the  command 
of  Caesar.  The  seas  which  rolled  not  back  when 
Canute  spoke  answered  to  His  orders  and  laid 
down  their  boisterous  waves  in  tranquil  quiet  at 
His  feet.  Demons  which  no  human  power  could 
dislodge  quitted  their  hold  and  ran  howling  from 
His  presence  at  His  rebuke.  Lepers,  blind,  deaf, 
maimed,  halt,  paralytics,  and  sufferers  from  all 
manner  of  disease  took  health  and  wholeness  and 
renewed  life  from  the  virtue  that  went  out  from 
Him  at  His  touch  or  His  word.  He  needed  only 
to  speak  to  the  dead  and  the}-  lived  again. 
Though  yielding  Himself  at  the  last  to  be  shame- 
fully crucified,  all  nature  shook  in  sympathy  with 
His  death:  the  earth  quaked,  the  rocks  rent,  the 
graves  opened,  the  dead  were  startled  back  to  life, 
and  witnessing  men  smote  their  breasts  and  hasted 
from  the  scene  in  terror  as  if  the  day  of  judgment 
had  come.  And  after  He  was  dead  and  buried 
and  sealed  in  the  sepulchre,  and  a  Roman  guard 
set  to  watch  His  tomb,  angels  hovered  inquiringly 
about  the  spot  and  friends  and  foes  kept  watchful 
eye  upon  it,  and  the  universe  waited  in  sabbatic 
pause  while  He  lay  in  His  grave;  the  time  came 
when  He  started  up  again  in  resurrection  power, 
bore  away  the  gates  of  Hades,  and  He  that  was 
crucified  came  forth  the  everlasting  Victor,  the 
Prince  of  lyife,  the  very  Lord  of  glory! 

And  as  to  the  Gospel  itself,  prophets  foretold  it; 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PERGAMOS.  97 

the  noblest  poets  of  all  time  sung  of  its  coming; 
the  reigns  of  sublimest  kings  and  the  roll  of  spe- 
cial dispensations  prefigured  it;  the  holiest  cere- 
monies from  the  foundation  of  the  world  typified 
it  and  pointed  to  it;  the  purest  hearts  and  worth- 
iest lives  that  ever  graced  the  earth  derived  their 
inspiration  from  it;  it  was  in  the  mind  and  fore- 
ordination  of  God  ere  the  world  was,  and  in  view 
through  all  His  providential  dealings  since  Adam 
went  weeping  from  Paradise.  Though  weak  and 
despised,  it  was  the  only  rising  cause  then  on  the 
earth,  the  most  profoundly  seated  in  the  wants  of 
man,  and  inevitably  destined  to  grow  and  triumph 
till  the  Baptist's  cry  on  Jordan's  banks  should  be 
heard  from  the  lips  of  nations:  "  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 
And  what  apostles  claimed  these  people  had  occa- 
sion by  experience  to  know,  that  it  is  "the  wis- 
dom of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation 
to  every  one  that  believeth,  to  the  Jew  first,  and 
also  to  the  Greek." 

There  was  therefore  no  reason  to  be  ashamed 
of  it,  or  to  quail  from  holding  firmly  to  it,  in 
view  of  anything  this  world  could  bring  to  in- 
duce these  people  to  disown  it.  Hence  they 
held  fast  Christ's  name,  and  did  not  deny  the 
faith  even  when  some  of  them  had  to  die  for  it. 

Antipas  accepted  death  rather  than  give  up  or 
deny  his  lyord.     Men  might  look  upon  him  as  a 


98  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

fool,  a  fanatic,  a  victim  of  delusion,  a  mad  enthu- 
siast, to  throw  away  his  life  for  his  faith.  The 
question  might  be,  Why  not  use  more  moderation 
in  his  attachment  to  his  creed?  Why  not  yield  a 
little  and  save  himself  from  a  martyr's  death? 
But  the  name  of  Jesus  was  more  precious  to  him 
than  his  life,  and  he  preferred  to  be  slain  to  a  let- 
ting go  of  that  name. 

And  do  you  suppose,  dear  friends,  that  he  now 
regrets  his  choice  ?  Can  you  think  that  he  has 
been  the  loser  for  his  faithfulness  unto  death  ? 
And  why,  then,  should  any  of  us  let  our  profession 
droop  and  drag  for  the  poor  satisfaction  of  a  little 
conformity  to  this  corrupt  and  erring  world  ? 

It  will  not  do  to  speak  of  being  unfavorably 
situated.  That  can  never  excuse  us.  Antipas 
was  a  true  disciple  even  where  Satan  had  his 
throne.  It  will  not  do  to  say  your  business  is  so 
vexatious — your  time  so  preoccupied — your  friends 
so  exacting  of  your  attention — your  duties  so  weari- 
some— your  energies  so  tired  out — your  leisure  so 
much  needed  for  rest — your  struggle  for  a  liveli- 
hood so  exhausting  and  severe — your  acquaint- 
ances likely  to  think  it  strange  for  you  to  give  at- 
tention to  church  and  religion.  God  will  not  ex- 
cuse because  our  circumstances  are  peculiar  or 
unfavorable.  Our  trials  may  call  forth  Christ's 
sympathy,  but  they  cannot  justify  unfaithfulness. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  heard  of  Jesus  and 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  P  ERG  AMOS.  99 

to  have  learned  His  name,  but  it  will  be  all  the 
worse  for  us  if  we  do  not  hold  it  fast.  Whatever 
the  trial,  the  word  is,  "If  any  man  draw  back. 
My  soul  shall  have  no  pleasure  in  him."  We 
have  a  Saviour  and  a  great  one,  but  we  must  hold 
fast  His  name  and  not  deny  His  faith. 


iLecture  Stolj, 


Rev.  2  :  14-16  :  "  But  I  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou 
hast  there  them  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam,  who  taught  Balak 
to  cast  a  stumbling-block  before  the  children  of  Israel,  to  eat  things 
sacrificed  unto  idols,  and  to  commit  fornication.  So  hast  thou  also 
them  that  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans,  which  thing  I  hate. 
Repent ;  or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly,  and  will  fight  against 
them  with  the  sword  of  my  mouth.'' 

ERGAMOS  was  a  city  that  rose  to  metro- 


politan dignity  more  than  three  centuries 
before  Christ.  It  was  founded  in  treach- 
ery by  the  treasurer  of  one  of  Alexander's  gene- 
rals, among  whom  his  empire  was  divided  after 
his  death.  This  traitor  carried  thither  great 
wealth  and  founded  the  dynasty  of  the  rich 
Attalian  kings,  whose  royal  seat  was  Pergamos 
for  nearly  two  hundred  years.  It  was  one  of  the 
wealthiest  cities  of  its  time,  and  famous  for  its 
magnificent  librar)^,  which  was  second  only  to 
that  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Alexandria. 

Pergamos  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  very 
fertile  valley,  whose  great  productiveness  natural- 
ly tended  to  develop  a  very  sumptuous  style  of 
society.     Its   great    wealth,   luxury,   and    boasted 

learning,   all    arrayed    on    the   side    of  a   sensual 

100 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  P  ERG  AMOS.  lOI 

and  corrupting  heathenism,  perhaps  more  than 
anything  else  gave  it  the  bad  pre-eminence  of 
being  Satan's  throne  and  seat.  The  historical 
descriptions  of  the  place  and  people  represent  it 
as  "epicurean  in  its  philosophy  and  a  nest  of  all 
sorts  of  gilded  sensualities  and  conventionalized 
vices."  It  was  the  most  intolerant  toward  the 
Christian  teachings  and  testimony  of  any  heathen 
city  of  its  time;  for  while  Christians  were  every- 
where hated  and  despised,  the  first  actual  martyr- 
doms among  the  Gentiles  seem  to  have  occurred 
in  Pergamos,  where  Antipas  lost  his  life  for  his 
devotion  to  his  faith.  We  know  somethinof  of 
the  style  of  life  which  characterized  Pompeii; 
and  Pergamos  was  even  more  corrupt. 

In  a  place  and  condition  of  society  in  which 
Satan  was  pre-eminently  enthroned  it  was  hard 
for  Christianity  to  get  a  firm  footing,  and  those 
who  embraced  it  were  in  great  danger  of  becom- 
ing more  or  less  infected  and  swayed  by  the  gene- 
ral order  of  thino^s  with  which  thev  were  in  dailv 
contact.  Man  is  man,  and  he  is  very  apt  to  take 
on  much  of  the  character  of  the  society  in  which 
he  lives,  even  against  what  he  has  been  taught 
and  has  accepted  as  the  right  thing.  Especially 
is  this  the  case  in  a  community  of  great  wealth, 
polish,  refinement,  and  celebrated  for  its  cultiva- 
tion and  learning.  We  know  something  of  what 
weak  and  ambitious  people  will  do  and  sacrifice 


102  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

to  get  place  and  acknowledgment  in  what  they 
call  society — how  prone  many  are  to  sycophancy 
and  truckling  to  what  they  regard  as  the  upper 
classes — how  they  will  ape  the  ways  and  thinking 
of  those  who  have  a  name  for  intelligence,  taste, 
and  high  social  importance.  And  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  in  a  dominant  pagan  city  like  Perga- 
mos,  with  its  many  rich  and  ancient  families,  rec- 
ognized as  a  great  university  centre,  and  famed 
for  the  learning  and  culture  of  its  population, 
many  members  of  the  Church  should  be  seduced 
into  damaging  compromises  with  its  sentiments, 
life,  and  fashions.  So  at  least  it  turned  out,  as 
set  forth  in  this  Letter  to  the  angel  of  the  church 
at  that  place. 

Having  mentioned  what  was  to  the  credit  and 
praise  of  this  church,  the  Saviour  proceeds  to 
note  what  was  of  a  different  character:  ^^Biit  I 
have  a  few  things  against  thec^  The  statement 
is  gently  expressed,  for  Jesus  is  full  of  tenderness 
to  His  people  even  when  erring  and  at  fault,  but 
the  language  is  stronger  than  that  used  toward 
the  church  at  Ephesus.  We  are  not  to  suppose 
our  sins  light  because  our  Lord  is  tender.  It  is 
rather  because  the  ailment  is  so  serious  that  He 
approaches  it  so  gently,  as  the  object  is  to  try  to 
win  the  offenders  back  to  proper  life  and  spiritual 
faithfulness.  He  is  not  willing  that  any  of  His 
flock  should  perish,  and  the  sicker  the  sheep  He 


To  The  church  of  pergaaios.         103 

would  recover  the  gentler  is  His  dealing  to  save 
it.  And  especially  where  there  is  so  much  to  ap- 
prove and  commend  He  uses  every  gentleness  to 
heal  what  is  wrong.  But  we  dare  not  presume 
on  that  gentleness. 

The  first  thing  of  which  the  Saviour  speaks  to 
the  angel  of  this  church  is:  ^^Thou  hast  there  them 
that  hold  the  doctrine  of  Balaam^  who  taught  Ba- 
lak  to  cast  a  stumbling-block  before  the  children 
of  Israel,  to  eat  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  to 
commit  fornication. ' '  The  minister  is  not  charged 
with  being  of  this  party,  and  yet  he  is  blamed  that 
such  people  were  tolerated  in  the  church  of  which 
he  had  the  oversight.  He  had  not  witnessed  and 
striven  against  these  errorists  and  corrupters  as  he 
should.  He  suffered  them  to  remain  in  the  church, 
notwithstanding  their  odious  and  unchristian  sen- 
timents. People  of  a  bad  life  and  a  corrupted 
faith  have  no  business  in  the  Church,  and  those 
who  have  the  oversight  are  to  see  to  it  that  they 
reform  from  their  ill  ways  or  are  thrown  out  from 
all  church-fellowship  and  recognition.  It  may  be 
a  very  unpleasant  thing  to  do,  but  not  to  do  it  is 
to  give  countenance  to  sin  and  to  connive  at  iniq- 
uity. Being  grieved  at  it  is  not  enough;  there 
must  be  action — admonition  first,  and  then,  if 
there  be  no  amendment,  expulsion  and  excom- 
munication. But  the  angel  of  this  church, 
though  pure  and  orthodox  himself,  was  too  leni- 


I04  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

ent  ill  his  censures  and  dealings  with  certain 
members  of  his  flock,  and  the  Saviour  makes  it 
a  matter  of  rebuke  to  him  that  he  had  there  them 
that  held  to  the  doctrine  of  Balaam. 

We  are  not  to  suppose  that  there  were  any  who 
professed  to  be  the  followers  of  Balaam.  Old  er- 
rors revived  generally  try  to  get  currency  under 
new  names.  The  people  referred  to  called  them- 
selves Christians,  and  claimed  to  be  very  enlight- 
ened, liberal,  and  proper  Christians.  But  they 
were  really  Balaamites.  The  principles  which 
they  entertained,  taught,  and  put  in  practice  as 
their  idea  of  Christianity  had  in  them  the  nature 
and  essence  of  that  sort  of  thing  of  which  Balaam 
was  the  originator  and  exemplification.  (See  the 
accounts  given  in  the  twenty-second,  twenty- third, 
twenty-fourth,  and  twenty-fifth  chapters  of  the 
book  of  Numbers.) 

Balaam  was  a  prophet  of  God,  and  really  spoke 
the  word  and  truth  of  God.  That  point  is  not  to 
be  questioned.  But  he  turned  out  to  be  a  very 
bad  man  and  came  to  a  very  sorry  end.  Prophecy 
is  a  gift  and  not  a  grace.  There  have  been  many 
instances  in  which  God  made  revelations  through 
instruments  not  at  all  partakers  of  His  saving 
grace.  Jesus  tells  of  some  who  shall  come  up 
before  Him  in  the  judgment  and  say,  "  Lord, 
have  we  not  prophesied  in  Thy  name,  and  in  Thy 
name  done  manv  wonderful  works?"  to  whom  He 


rO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PER  G  A  A/OS.  105 

will  answer,  '  ^  Depart  from  Me,  ye  that  work  in- 
iquity; for  I  never  knew  yon."  Balaam  certainly 
did  utter  divine  oracles,  and  claimed  to  hold  him- 
self bound  faithfully  to  give  what  God  said.  He 
also  had  great  fome  as  a  sacred  prophet.  Hence 
King  Balak  sought  his  aid  to  put  the  curse  of  God 
upon  the  children  of  Israel  and  to  prophesy  evil 
upon  them.  It  was  a  base  desire,  and  Balaam  was 
only  too  eager  to  serve  him  in  his  wickedness. 

Balaam  first  tried  legitimate  ways,  without 
avail,  to  obtain  a  divine  expression  adverse  to 
Israel;  but  what  he  could  not  get  by  means  of 
divine  oracles  he  planned  to  accomplish  by  treach- 
er)',  deceit,  and  the  guiles  of  unprincipled  women. 
If  God's  people  could  be  seduced  into  apostasy 
and  uncleanness,  then  God  would  be  against  them 
and  Balak' s  wishes  would  be  gratified;  and  this 
was  now  the  devilish  policy  which  he  advised. 

What  moved  Balaam  in  all  this  business  was 
his  eager  desire  to  possess  the  honors  and  rewards 
which  Balak  held  out  to  him.  He  "loved  the 
wao^es  of  unrio^hteousness. "  With  God's  word  in 
his  mouth  the  devil's  covetousness  was  in  his 
heart.  Balak  approached  him  with  presents,  and 
offered  him  riches  and  honor.  He  proposed  to 
take  the  prophet  into  his  royal  favor,  enrich  him 
with  gold,  and  exalt  him  to  the  next  highest  place 
in  the  kingdom.  And  with  these  proposals  the 
heart  of  Balaam  was  dazzled.     He  could  not  turn 


I06  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

his  back  on  such  a  splendid  chance  for  wealth, 
standing,  and  worldly  glory.  He  did  not  mean 
to  let  go  his  profession  as  a  prophet.  No;  if  Ba- 
lak  should  give  him  his  house  full  of  gold  he  must 
keep  strictly  to  the  word  God  should  put  in  his 
mouth.  But  if  he  could  secure  the  proffered 
emolument  without  violating  his  conscience  or 
compromising  his  principles,  why  not  do  it  ? 
And  thus  inflamed  by  his  cupidity  for  Balak's 
treasures  and  favors,  he  made  the  effort  and  went 
on  trying  one  thing  and  another  until  we  find  him 
at  last  advising  the  king  to  use  the  blandishments 
of  women  and  lewdness  to  seduce  the  men  of  Is- 
rael and  to  beguile  them  to  participation  in  the 
feasts  and  orgies  of  pagan  worship. 

This  was  Balaamism,  and  just  what  was  repro- 
duced in  some  of  the  members  of  this  church  at 
Pergamos.  Though  holding  to  Christianity,  and 
in  no  way  intending  to  renounce  their  profession 
and  standing  as  members  of  the  church,  the}' 
would  yet  not  be  so  bigoted  as  to  wrong  them- 
selves out  of  much  good  fortune  by  refusing  to 
concede  anything  to  paganism.  Why  not  be 
friends  of  these  high  people,  yield  a  little  here 
and  there,  and  profit  in  temporal  estate  with- 
out letting  go  their  Christianity?  They  would 
not  be  cynics.  They  could  see  no  harm  in  ac- 
cepting invitations  to  the  entertainments  of  their 
heathen  neighbors,  in  partaking  of  food  and  ban- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PER  GAM  OS.  10/ 

quets  on  which  the  name  of  some  heathen  god 
was  called,  in  visiting  the  pagan  temples  and 
shows  on  great  occasions,  in  indnlging  themselves 
a  little  according  to  the  customs  of  the  commu- 
nity. This  would  please  the  heathen  and  secure 
their  favor.  What  was  a  heathen  god,  at  any 
rate  ?  It  was  a  nothing,  a  fiction — a  thing  which 
could  neither  help  nor  harm.  Did  they  not  know 
this  full  well  ?  What  fear  that  they  should  be- 
come infatuated  worshippers  of  such  nonentities  ? 
Could  they  not  eat  of  idol  meats  and  drink  of 
idol  drinks  and  sit  at  idol  feasts  and  enter  idol 
temples  and  be  reverent  at  idol  ceremonies,  and 
enjoy  some  of  the  pleasures  of  idol  frolics,  with- 
out ever  once  lending  their  hearts  to  what  they 
knew  to  be  nothing  but  a  fraud  and  a  lie?  What 
need  was  there  for  such  rigid  and  bigoted  scrupu- 
lositv  when  there  was  not  the  least  dangler  of 
their  ever  turning  heathen  ?  And  so  they  began 
to  amalgamate  with  the  rank  and  unchaste  pa- 
ganism which  held  dominion  around  them,  and 
claimed  it  as  their  Christian  libert}"  so  to  do. 

Satan  had  tried  them  with  violence  and  perse- 
cution, but,  failing  by  that  method,  he  plied  them 
with  social  seductions,  flattering  them  with  world- 
ly friendships,  good  standing  with  their  heathen 
neighbors,  credit  for  liberality,  easy  wealth,  and 
gratifying  pleasures.  And  with  these  lures  they 
were  drawn  and  enticed  until  it  came  to  be  a  mat- 


I08  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

ter  of  doctrine  and  principle  with  them  to  make 
common  cause  with  idolatry,  holding  it  to  be  of 
no  account  one  way  or  another,  and  maintaining 
that  a  Christian  could  still  be  a  Christian  even  in 
heathen  temples  and  while  participating  in  heathen 
feasts.  This  was  their  Balaam  ism — their  spiritual 
harlotry — which  did  so  much  mischief  in  the  early 
Gentile  churches. 

The  same  is  elsewhere  spoken  of  Peter  speaks 
of  some  walking  after  the  flesh  in  the  lust  of  un- 
cleanness,  despising  the  dominion  that  would  re- 
strain them,  presumptuous,  self-willed,  not  afraid 
to  speak  evil  of  dignities  and  of  things  they  did 
not  understand,  counting  it  pleasure  to  parade 
their  scandals  as  those  who  riot  in  the  daytime, 
sporting  themselves  with  their  own  deceivings 
while  claiming  to  take  part  in  the  feasts  and 
sacraments  of  the  Church,  having  eyes  full  of 
adultery,  beguiling  unstable  souls,  and  having 
their  hearts  full  of  covetous  practices  after  the 
manner  of  Balaam.  He  calls  them  wells  without 
water,  clouds  carried  by  the  wind,  bombastic 
talkers,  through  lusts  of  the  flesh  and  wanton- 
ness alluring  good  people  into  their  abominations, 
promising  them  liberty  while  themselves  the 
bond-slaves  of  corruption.  Jude  speaks  of  these 
same  people  as  giving  themselves  over  to  the  un- 
cleanness  of  the  heathen,  filthy  dreamers,  railing 
at  all  spiritual  authority,  running  greedily  after 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PER G AMOS.  1 09 

the  error  of  Balaam  for  reward,  spots  and  scandals 
in  the  Christian  feasts,  trees  twice  dead,  raging 
waves  of  the  sea  foaming  out  their  own  shame, 
wandering  stars  to  whom  is  reserved  the  black- 
ness of  darkness  for  ever. 

Nor  is  there  another  class  of  people  against 
whom  the  Scriptures  fulmine  such  terrible  wrath 
and  condemnation  as  those  professed  Christians 
who  for  worldly  gain,  pleasure,  and  carnal  indul- 
gence held  it  to  be  their  right  and  privilege  to 
join  with  the  heathen  and  to  do  as  they  pleased 
on  all  these  social  questions.  It  was  the  particu- 
lar fault  and  abomination  of  the  times,  which 
perverted,  ruined,  and  destroyed  more  souls  than 
all  the  persecutions  of  the  pagan  government. 
Nay,  it  is  one  of  the  particular  ailments  of  the 
Church  in  all  time,  and  especially  again  in  our 
time,  that  many  of  its  members,  for  their  own 
ease,  pleasure,  and  gain,  claim  it  to  be  their  right 
and  liberty  to  join  in  the  ways,  habits,  amuse- 
ments, and  society  of  the  corrupt  and  idolatrous 
world  while  yet  claiming  to  be  very  correct  and 
orthodox  Christians,  if  not  Christians  of  a  supe- 
rior sort,  quite  freed  from  the  bigoted  and  illiberal 
spirit  of  those  wdio  count  such  things  an  abomi- 
nation. This  joining  of  the  worship  of  God  with 
the  worship  of  Mammon,  this  amalgamation  of 
the  children  of  God  with  the  children  of  the 
devil,  this  bringing  together  of  the  table  of  the 


no  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

lyord  and  the  tables  of  demons,  this  holding  to 
Jehovah  and  yet  pleading  for  liberty  to  bow  down 
in  the  temple  of  Rimmon,  this  gilding  over  of 
the  service  of  greed,  vanity,  ambition,  selfishness, 
carnal  appetite,  and  sensual  pleasure  by  a  heart- 
less and  skin-deep  profession, — what  is  it  but  this 
selfsame  detested  Balaamism  which  leads  to  de- 
struction, plague,  and  eternal  death  ? 

It  was  the  bane  and  curse  of  the  church  of  Per- 
gamos  that  with  all  its  faithfulness  to  the  name 
and  faith  of  Christ  it  had  such  people  in  it,  and 
that  they  were  allowed  to  remain  in  it  without 
discipline  and  excommunication.  And  it  is  the 
bane  and  curse  of  the  Church  of  our  day  to  a  still 
greater  extent.  I  doubt  if  man  has  ever  seen  so 
many  silver  bridges  between  the  Church  and  the 
world  as  modern  Christianity  has  arranged  and 
sanctioned  to  the  weakening  of  itself  and  the 
ruin  of  souls.  And  few  indeed  are  the  professed 
Christians  of  our  times  who  are  not  more  or  less 
tainted  and  swayed  by  the  abominable  "doctrine 
of  Balaam,  who  taught  Balak  to  cast  a  stumbling- 
block  before  the  children  of  Israel,  to  eat  things 
sacrificed  to  idols  and  to  commit  fornication." 

x\nd  yet  another  detestable  thing  did  the  Sa- 
viour point  out  in  this  church  at  Pergamos:  ^^So 
hast  thoii  also  them  that  hohi  the  doctrine  of  the 
Nicolaitans^  which  thing  I  hate^ 

In  the  church  of  Ephesus  there  is  reference  to 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PERGAMOS.  Ill 

' '  the  deeds  of  the  Nicolaitans, ' '  which  the  ineinbers 
of  that  church  hated  and  would  not  at  all  coun- 
tenance. But  what  were  only  deeds  and  practices 
in  Ephesus  had  grown  to  doctrines  and  principles 
in  Pergamos,  and  what  the  angel  of  the  church 
at  Ephesus  could  not  tolerate,  the  angel  of  the 
church  at  Pergamos  allowed  to  have  place  and  to 
put  itself  forth  in  teaching  and  dogma. 

Our  information  concerning  these  Nicolaitans 
is  not  very  complete,  but  the  early  Christian 
writers  speak  of  them  as  a  sect  of  the  Gnostics, 
who  held  that  the  body  is  a  corrupt  thing  des- 
tined to  perish,  and  that  it  did  not  matter  about 
what  was  done  with  it  in  the  short  time  that  it 
has  to  live.  Hence  they  gave  themselves  free 
license  in  all  sorts  of  corporeal  impurities.  Adul- 
tery, fornication,  and  every  sort  of  fleshly  indul- 
gence they  made  no  sin  of,  claiming  that  the 
death  of  the  body  would  set  the  soul  free  from 
all  condemnation.  Not  only  plurality  of  wives, 
but  community  of  wives,  was  part  of  their  sys- 
tem. Eating  things  offered  to  idols  and  joining 
in  pagan  feasts  and  orgies  were  nothing  wrong  in 
their  eyes.  Nor  did  they  hesitate  to  introduce 
heathen  rites  into  Christian  worship.  In  some 
of  their  characteristics  they  quite  accorded  with 
the  Balaamites,  but  in  others  they  were  still 
more  besotted  and  impure. 

And  to  eive  some  sort  of  dio:nitv  to  their  abomi- 


112  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

nations  these  people  claimed  to  have  derived  their 
practices  and  doctrines  from  the  good  deacon  Nico- 
las, and  so  called  themselves  Nicolaitans,  to  the 
great  scandal  of  a  very  worthy  name.  Their 
doings  and  principles  were  such  that  Christ  de- 
clares He  hated  them. 

Well  also  would  it  be  for  modern  Christendom 
if  it  were  less  infected  with  this  same  spirit.  But 
when  we  observe  how  lightly  many  regard  the  sa- 
credness  of  marriage,  the  readiness  with  which  its 
ties  are  dissolved,  and  the  unconcealed  libertinism 
and  uncleannesses  which  even  professed  Christian 
people  wink  at  and  pass  as  trifling  foibles,  we  are 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Nicolaitans 
have  not  yet  died  out. 

Though  men  may  connive  at  such  things,  the 
great  Lord  and  Judge  does  not.  If  the  pastors  of 
the  Church  tolerate  them  without  protest,  and  do 
not  bring  their  authority  to  bear  against  the  abet- 
tors of  such  unclean  amalgamations,  Jesus  holds 
them  responsible,  and  demands  repentance  and 
earnest  purging  out  of  the  corrupting  leaven  on 
pain  of  His  wrath.  Such  Balaamites  and  Nicolai- 
tans must  change  their  minds  and  return  to  a 
more  consistent  and  thorough  Christianity,  or  the 
sharp  sword  of  double  edge  is  drawn  against  them 
and  they  can  only  perish  under  it. 

Dear  friends,  it  is  not  possible  to  serve  two 
masters.     If  we  would  hold  fast  the  name  and 


TO    I'lIK    CHURCH   OF  PKA'CAMOS.  II3 

faitli  of  Christ,  we  must  let  go  the  world  and  the 
following  of  its  evil  ways  and  uncleannesses,  and 
abhor  the  very  garment  spotted  b)-  the  flesh, 
"What  fellowship  hath  righteousness  with  un- 
ri«:hteousness?  and  what  communion  hath  lieht 
with  darkness?  What  concord  hath  Christ  with 
Belial?  or  what  part  hath  he  that  believeth  with 
an  infidel  ?  and  what  agreement  hath  the  temple 
of  God  with  idols?"  "  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 
Mammon."  One  thing  or  the  other  we  must  be; 
and  if  not  consistent,  true,  and  faithful  Christians, 
we  are  of  the  world  and  must  perish  with  it. 
' '  Wherefore, ' '  the  word  is,  ' '  come  out  from 
among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the 
Lord,  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing." 

8 


aecture  S^^^i^tl). 


Rev.  2:17:  "  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  hmi  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches  :  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of 
the  hidden  manna,  and  will  give  him  a 'white  stone,  and  in  the  stone 
a  new  name  written,  which  no  man  knoweth,  saving  he  that  receiveth 
it." 


HAT  Christ  hates  Christians  must  hate,  or 
they  incur  the  displeasure  of  their  Lord. 
The  angel  of  the  church  of  Bphesus  hated 
the  deeds  of  the  Nicolaitans,  and  was  commended 
for  it;  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Pergamos  was 
indifferent  and  tolerant  toward  these  errorists,  and 
he  is  censured  for  it,  and  required  to  repent  of  his 
faulty  leniency  or  meet  divine  judgment  on  ac- 
count of  it. 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  ministers  are  not 
to  be  fisihtinor  men,  and  that  controversy  is  a  s^reat 
evil  in  the  Church;  but  Christ  here  presents  Him- 
self as  a  fighter  against  evil  and  against  the  abet- 
tors of  evil,  and  requires  of  His  servants  to  do  the 
same  or  accept  blame  and  condemnation.  Con- 
troversy, instead  of  being  the  bane  of  the  Church, 
has  many  a  time  been  its  only  salvation.  What 
would  have  become  of  it  in  the  time  of  Athana- 

lU 


rO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PEKGAMOS.  I  15 

sius,  or  the  time  of  Luther,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  tremendous  controversy  in  tliose  instances? 
To  let  things  drift  along  as  they  will  for  the  sake 
of  avoiding  sharp  conflicts  and  disturbing  col- 
lisions is  to  let  the  devil  do  as  he  pleases  and  to 
give  over  the  precious  things  of  God  to  disaster 
and  ruin.  The  angel  of  the  church  at  Pergamos 
acted  on  this  principle,  suppressed  his  indignation 
at  the  errorists  who  were  ruining  his  church,  and 
failed  to  withstand  them  that  held  the  doctrine  of 
Balaam  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Nicolaitans;  and 
the  Saviour  faults  him  for  it,  and  demands  of  him 
immediate  repentance,  on  pain  of  coming  against 
him  with  the  sword  of  judgment.  To  refuse  bat- 
tle with  errorists  is  to  accept  battle  with  God,  and 
we  can  be  at  no  loss  to  know  what  the  issue  must 
be.  And  the  repentance  required  of  the  pastor  at 
Pergamos  implied  that  he  was  to  make  war  upon 
these  Balaamites  and  Nicolaitans,  witness  and  tes- 
tify with  unflinching  energy  against  their  ruinous 
aberrations,  recover  them  to  truth  and  faithfulness 
if  he  could,  otherwise  to  exclude  them  totally 
from  the  communion  of  the  Church.  Nor  was 
there  any  other  salvation  in  the  case,  either  for 
that  preacher  or  that  congregation. 

Balaam's  aberrations  brought  him  death  by  the 
sword  of  God's  indignation.  He  perished  with 
the  king  whose  wickedness  he  was  so  ready  to 
serve  for  a  price,  and  with  those  who  had  become 


Il6  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

corrupted  with  his  devices.  The  record  says: 
"Balaam  also,  the  son  of  Beor,  they  slew  with 
the  sword"  (Num.  13:22).  And  so  the  threat 
here  was  that  unless  thorough  amendment  took 
place  without  delay,  Christ  would  come  quickly, 
and  in  like  manner  fight  against  these  new  Ba- 
laamites  and  Nicolaitans  with  the  sword  of  His 
mouth. 

And  the  execution  of  this  threat  would  have 
touched  not  only  those  corrupt  ones  on  whose 
account  it  was  made.  Such  a  judgment  on  the 
church  would  have  affected  the  whole  body.  The 
sins  and  failings  of  unfaithful  members  implicate 
the  whole  Church.  Judgments  come  by  reason 
of  the  wicked  only,  but  when  they  come  the  good 
have  to  suffer  with  the  bad.  As  things  are  in  this 
world,  the  gold  and  the  dross  are  cast  alike  into 
the  fire,  though  only  the  dross  is  to  be  consumed. 
When  there  is  blessing  on  account  of  the  good, 
the  wicked  share  it;  and  when  there  is  judgment 
for  the  wicked,  the  good  and  pious  are  made  to 
feel  it  with  the  rest.  Nor  is  it  right  that  we 
should  escape  the  tribulation  if  we  have  not  hon- 
estly done  what  we  could  to  remove  the  causes 
which  have  procured  it.  Communities  are  dealt 
with  as  communities,  and  churches  as  churches; 
and  what  happens  to  the  body  as  such  all  the 
members  together  must  share. 

But  while  God  thus  judges  churches  and  peo- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PERGAMOS.  WJ 

pies  in  this  world,  this  is  not  the  final  award  to 
the  individual  members  in  it.  The  Church  or 
State  may  fall  and  perish,  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  individuals  belonging  to  it  can  have  no  bet- 
ter destiny.  A  Church  may  apostatize  and  come 
under  the  curse  of  God,  and  yet  there  may  be  in 
the  midst  of  it  some  suffering  individuals  in  no 
way  responsible  for  the  trouble,  who  stemmed  the 
tide  of  evil  as  best  they  could,  and  held  fast  to 
the  right  in  spite  of  it,  faithful  found  among  the 
faithless,  to  whom  a  better  portion  is  reserved. 

The  individuality  is  still  not  sunk  and  lost  in 
the  community.  There  is  another  and  further 
administration  which  dispenses  to  each  one  sepa- 
rately according  to  his  works.  And  along  with 
each  of  these  addresses  to  the  churches  there  is 
exhortation  to  individual  members,  and  promise 
to  each  separate  soul  that  overcometh,  no  matter 
what  befalls  the  church  as  such.  There  have 
been  saints  under  the  worst  apostasies  and  in  the 
most  evil  times — jewels  amid  ashes,  flowers  amid 
deserts  of  barrenness.  In  the  darkest  days  of  the 
Roman  Inquisition  a  martyr  to  his  uncorrupted 
faith  wrote  on  the  wall  of  his  dungeon:  "  Blessed 
Jesus,  they  may  separate  me  from  Thy  Church, 
but  they  cannot  separate  me  from  Thee!"  and 
many  not  written  in  the  martyrologies  of  man 
are  yet  inscribed  and  canonized  in  the  calendar 
of  God   because  of  their   faith    and   faithfulness 


Il8  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

in  the  midst  of  the  avalanches  of  apostasy  and 
reigning  sin. 

The  Gospel  addresses  itself  to  individuals:  "7/<? 
that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches."  Except  as  individuals 
hear  and  believe  there  can  be  no  faith,  no  salva- 
tion. And  hence  also  the  promise  is  to  each  one 
separately:  "To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give 
to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna,  and  I  will  give  him 
a  white  stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new  name  writ- 
ten, which  no  man  knoweth  saving  he  that  re- 
ceiveth  it." 

In  each  of  these  seven  Letters  the  Saviour  re- 
curs to  the  description  which  contemplates  Chris- 
tians as  conquerors,  overcomers,  persons  who  hold 
out  in  their  faith  and  faithfulness  to  final  victory. 
The  figure  implies  conflict,  hardship,  adversity, 
antagonism,  difiiculty.  A  true  Christian  is  a 
wrestler,  a  soldier,  a  combatant,  who  puts  forth 
his  energies  to  conquer,  and  who  does  conquer — 
if  not  at  once,  yet  surely  in  the  end.  The  whole 
current  and  spirit  of  things  in  this  world,  both 
within  us  and  without,  is  contrary  to  faith  and  to 
a  life  of  faith.  The  influences  are  strong  to  keep 
people  from  accepting  and  confessing  Christ,  and 
they  are  equally  strong  to  pervert,  corrupt,  and 
hinder  even  after  having  taken  hold  of  Christian 
life.  The  heart  is  deceitful,  the  world  is  seduc- 
tive, and  the  devil  is  watchful  and  cunning;  and 


rO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PERGAMOS.  1 19 

all  sorts  of  trials  come  by  which  honest  souls  are 
likely  to  be  deluded,  tripped  up,  diverted  from  the 
truth,  betrayed  into  sin,  and  rendered  untrue  to 
their  profession.  And  such  is  the  situation  in  this 
world  that  we  must  conquer  these  evil  influences 
or  they  will  conquer  us;  and  only  he  who  does 
thus  conquer  is  a  true  Christian. 

In  the  case  of  these  people  of  the  church  at 
Pergamos  the  more  particular  evils  against  which 
they  had  to  struggle  were  the  seductive  influences 
of  a  rich,  cultured,  luxurious,  and  sensual  heathen- 
ism, in  which  Satan  had  enthroned  himself — com- 
promises of  Christian  fidelity  for  worldly  favor, 
patronage,  gain,  and  pleasure;  afiiliations  with 
the  heathen  in  their  feasts,  banquets,  and  cere- 
monies; aping  after  the  styles,  fashions,  and  man- 
ners which  prevailed  in  that  corrupt  and  rotten 
community,  and  the  justification  of  such  abomi- 
nations on  the  grounds  of  Christian  liberty  and 
right.  It  was  no  easy  thing  for  those  well-to-do 
to  keep  clear  of  these  subtle  and  treacherous  con- 
taminations. ]\Iany  prominent  members  made 
nothing  of  them,  and  still  claimed  to  be  as  good 
Christians  in  their  worldly  conformities  as  any 
others.  The  minister  was  easy  and  reticent. 
The  lures  without  were  strong  and  attractive, 
and  the  example  set  by  those  of  prominence  in  the 
church  favored  this  amalgamation  of  heathenism 
with  Christianitv  and  of  Christianitv  with  heath- 


120  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

enism;  and  it  required  great  moral  courage,  devo- 
tion, and  uncompromising  determination  to  stand 
out  unflinchingly  for  the  pure  Gospel  and  a  pure 
Christian  life.  It  necessarily  involved  many  an 
unpleasant  collision  and  many  a  hard  contest, 
both  within  and  without,  for  those  who  would  be 
Christians  in  deed,  and  not  only  in  name,  to  be 
successful.  Many  a  sore,  trying,  and  disabling 
wound  would  necessarily  be  incurred,  and  noth- 
ing but  hard  fighting  could  give  them  the  victory. 
But  the  Saviour  was  with  them  in  their  struggle 
to  help  them  with  His  sympathies,  word,  and 
promises,  and  addressed  a  special  promise  to 
every  one  who  should  remain  faithful  and  over- 
come in  this  heavy  conflict. 

There  are  several  items  in  this  promise.  The 
first  was,  ' '  To  him  that  overcoineth  will  I  give  to 
eat  of  the  hidden  mannay  The  temptation  which 
specially  beset  these  Christians  of  Pergamos  was, 
for  earthly  advantage,  to  partake  of  idol  meats 
and  heathen  feasts,  and  so  the  promise  is  that  if 
they  would  abstain  from  such  improprieties,  and 
hold  themselves  clean  and  separate  from  such  con- 
taminating feeding  and  carnal  compromises,  Christ 
would  supply  them  with  a  far  more  precious  bread. 
Rejecting  the  world's  dainties  for  Christ  and  His 
pure  service,  He  would  give  them  "to  eat  of  the 
hidden  manna." 

We  know   something  of  the   miraculous   food 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  FERGA.VOS.  I2I 

with  which  God  nourished  and  sustained  His 
ancient  people  during  their  long  and  weary  years 
of  wandering  in  the  w^aste  and  barren  wilderness, 
and  which  the  people  called  vianna^  "What  is 
it?"  for  they  did  not  know  what  it  was.  But  it 
was  a  heavenly  bread  specially  provided  of  God, 
which  fell  in  little  white  flakes  every  morning  for 
the  day's  supply,  except  on  the  Sabbath,  to  carry 
them  through  which  a  double  portion  fell  on  the 
morning  preceding.  And  thus  were  the  people 
fed  during  all  their  long  pilgrimage  until  they 
came  to  eat  of  the  fruits  of  the  Promised  Land. 
That  miraculous  bread  was  the  type  of  another 
and  better  bread  for  the  feeding  of  souls  and  their 
nourishment  unto  eternal  life.  So  the  Saviour 
Himself  has  explained  this  in  John  6,  where  He 
speaks  of  Himself  as  the  true  manna  given  of 
the  Father  from  heaven:  "  The  bread  of  God  is 
He  which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and  giveth 
life  unto  the  world.  ...  I  am  the  living  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven:  if  any  man  eat 
of  this  bread,  he  shall  live  for  ever;  and  the  bread 
that  I  will  give  is  My  flesh,  which  I  will  give  for 
the  life  of  the  world.  ...  He  that  eateth  of  this 
bread  shall  live  for  ever."  This,  then,  is  the  true 
manna  and  food  of  souls  in  their  pilgrimage  to 
the  better  country,  as  the  manna  of  the  wilder- 
ness was  the  food  for  the  bodies  of  the  pilgrim 
tribes.     This  bread  is  given  us  in  the  Gospel  to 


122  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

be  received  and  fed  on  by  faith  in  Christ  as  our 
salvation,  and  still  more  literally  in  the  Holy 
Supper.  By  faith  in  the  one,  and  by  the  same 
faith  eating  and  drinking  in  the  other,  we  are 
quickened  and  nourished  unto  life  everlasting; 
and  these  Pergamites,  as  all  Christians,  by  hold- 
ing truly  to  the  name  and  faith  of  Christ,  were 
to  have  of  this  living  manna  for  their  perpetual 
nourishment  and  comfort  as  the  help  and  attend- 
ant of  their  victory. 

But  this  does  not  seem  at  all  to  exhaust  the 
promise  or  to  compass  its  more  special  meaning. 
When  the  tabernacle  w^as  built,  command  was 
given  to  take  of  the  daily  manna,  put  it  into  a 
golden  pot,  and  lay  it  up  before  the  Lord  in  the 
ark  of  the  covenant  in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  Into 
that  sacred  place,  the  picture  of  the  divine  resi- 
dence in  heaven,  no  one  but  the  high  priest,  and 
he  only  with  great  fear  and  trembling,  dared  to 
enter.  A  veil  hung  between  it  and  the  outer 
sanctuary  which  none  but  he  could  pass,  and  be- 
yond which  none  but  he  could  look.  It  was  a 
hidden  chamber  in  which  there  was  a  still  more 
inviolable  concealment  of  what  was  placed  in  the 
ark  of  the  covenant.  And  the  specimen  of  manna 
there  preserved  was  the  most  intensely  hidden.  It 
was  first  of  all  closed  in  the  golden  pot,  and  the 
pot  enclosed  in  the  ark,  and  the  ark  enclosed  in 
the  unapproachable  Holy  of  Holies.     It  was  pre- 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PERGAMOS.  1 23 

eminently  ^^  the  hidden  ma)inay  And  to  this  the 
reference  here  doubtless  is. 

This  omer  full  of  manna,  thus  laid  up  before 
the  lyord  and  hidden  from  the  view  of  men,  was 
no  longer  corruptible,  like  that  which  fell  daily 
around  the  camp,  and  which  changed  to  putrefac- 
tion if  kept  over  a  day  other  than  the  Sabbath. 
It  continued  pure  in  its  golden  pot  for  genera- 
tions. But  if  the  manna  which  the  people  ate 
referred  to  the  flesh  of  Christ  given  for  the  life 
of  the  world,  this  specimen  of  it,  rendered  incor- 
ruptible and  laid  up  in  the  presence  and  dwelling- 
place  of  God,  must  needs  refer  to  the  same,  but 
now  in  that  condition  of  immortality  and  incor- 
ruption  in  which  He  ascended  to  the  right  hand 
of  the  Father. 

We  thus  reach  the  sacred  teaching  that  the 
heavenly  food  of  true  believers  exists  in  two 
forms,  though  really  of  one  and  the  same  sub- 
stance: the  corruptible  form  in  which  it  was 
given  to  death  for  the  world's  life,  and  the  in- 
corruptible form  in  which  it  now  has  place  before 
God  in  heaven — the  one  of  which  we  partake  and 
on  which  we  live  in  this  our  mortal  pilgrimage, 
and  the  other  hidden  in  heavenly  glory  where  we 
can  never  see  or  approach  it  until  this  mortal  puts 
on  immortality  and  comes  in  true  priestly  charac- 
ter within  the  veil  and  enters  whither  the  Fore- 
runner is  for  us  entered. 


124  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

It  is  also  very  plain  that  the  promise  here,  like 
the  promises  in  the  other  of  these  Letters,  refers 
to  some  benefit  and  favor  pertaining  to  the  future 
kingdom  of  glory,  when  this  present  life  is  over, 
rather  than  to  something  possessed  and  enjoyed  in 
the  present  kingdom  of  grace.  The  Saviour  does 
not  say  that  He  has  given  to  Christian  victors  to 
eat  of  the  hidden  manna,  but  that  He  will  do  it 
in  the  future,  which  can  only  be  when  the  war- 
fare is  ended  and  the  victory  is  complete  beyond 
any  further  perad venture.  Every  feature  and  im- 
plication of  the  case  thus  carries  over  to  the  im- 
mortal and  heavenly  state,  when  corruption  has 
been  swallowed  up  of  life,  for  this  hidden  manna 
and  for  the  eating  of  it  which  the  overcomer  is  to 
have.  Christ  in  glorified  humanity  is  now  hidden 
there.  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  enter  into  that 
holy  place,  or  eye  of  mortal  look  upon  that  golden 
pot  of  incorruptible  bread  which  has  thus  been 
laid  up  in  heaven.  And  the  sweep  of  this  glorious 
promise  to  the  victorious  Christian  soldier  looks 
to  the  life  to  come — to  the  immortal  state — to  ad- 
mission into  the  veiled  place  of  the  divine  resi- 
dence— to  likeness,  fellowship,  and  beatific  vision 
of  the  Redeemer  in  His  heavenly  glory — and  to 
the  impartation  of  His  own  glorious  self  to  us  as 
our  immortal  meat  and  drink  and  life  and  ever- 
lasting joy.  Elsewhere  in  the  Apocal5'pse  we 
read    that    "the  temple  of  God   was   opened    in 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  P  ERG  AMOS.  1 25 

heaven,  and  there  was  seen  in  His  temple  the 
ark  of  His  testament"  (Rev.  11:19),  and  that 
after  the  seven  last  plagnes  are  fnlfiUed  men  were 
able  to  enter  into  the  temple,  and  so  come  to  the 
hidden  manna,  then  no  longer  hid  from  them, 
and,  seeing  it,  to  eat  of  it,  and  partake  of  its 
snblime  incorruptibleness.  And  in  this  view  it 
is  qnestionable  whether  there  is  anywhere  a 
sweeter  and  more  precions  personal  promise  than 
that  which  the  Saviour  here  gives  to  the  Chris- 
tian victor. 

But  this  is  still  not  all.  It  is  further  added: 
^'And  I  2vill  give  him  a  zvhite  stone ^  and  in  the 
stone  a  nezv  name  written^  which  no  man  knoweth 
saving  he  that  receiveth  it. ' ' 

The  blackballing  the  faithful  one  receives  from 
the  society  of  earth  is  to  result  in  a  happy  election 
to  the  society  in  heaven.  Having  won  in  the  con- 
flict, there  is  given  him  the  mark  of  honorable 
distinction — a  token  of  free  access  to  all  the  joys 
of  the  kingdom.  So  many  interpretations  of  this 
promise  run.  But  this  does  not  seem  to  reach  the 
special  nature  or  the  full  meaning  of  the  promise. 
The  ' '  zvhite  stone ' '  is  not  a  pebble  used  or  cast 
by  another,  but  a  luminous  and  glittering  jewel 
given  into  the  victor's  own  possession,  and  in 
itself  a  sublime  treasure  to  him.  Entering  into 
the  holiest  of  all,  he  enters  as  an  accepted  priest, 
and  he  gets  the  most  lustrous  and  precious  sacred 


126  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

jewel  of  the  priest.  We  can  think  of  nothing  but 
a  diamond  in  the  case — the  Urim  given  to  the 
high  priest  to  be  borne  by  him  as  a  most  sacred 
jewel,  into  which  he  looked  with  holiest  rever- 
ence to  see  and  read  the  responses  and  revela- 
tions of  the  Lord  Almighty,  and  through  which 
his  soul  came  into  communion  with  the  mind  of 
that  Jehovah  whose  name  was  engraved  upon  it. 
Un?}i  means  lights^  the  lights  and  illuminations 
from  Jehovah.  And  such  a  crystal  gem  of  light, 
at  once  the  token  and  the  medium  of  the  holiest 
communion  with  the  Giver  of  it,  the  Christian 
over  comer  is  to  receive. 

And  on  this  luminous  gem  there  is  to  be  a  new 
name  engraved — not  the  victor's  name,  but  the 
Giver's  name;  and  the  newness  of  the  name  re- 
fers to  some  newness  of  character  and  of  glory  in 
Christ  to  be  made  known  to  and  realized  and  en- 
joyed by  the  receiver  of  this  gem  which  none  but 
he  can  ever  understand. 

The  immortal  priest  thus  comes  to  partake  of 
the  immortal  Christ  as  his  life  and  food  and  joy, 
and  receives  the  gem  of  immortal  privilege,  of 
divine  illumination,  and  of  insight  into  the  mys- 
teries and  glories  of  Christ,  which  belong  only  to 
him  that  overcometh  in  the  Christian  conflict. 
As  Phinehas  was  rewarded  and  honored  with  ' '  an 
everlasting  priesthood  "  for  his  zeal  in  vanquish- 
ing those  sins  to  which  the  Old-Testament  Balaam 


TO    THE    CIIL'RCH    Of  FEA'C.LyOS.  12/ 

seduced  Israel,  so  he  who  is  zealous  against,  and 
effectually  resists,  the  temptations  and  the  sins  of 
the  New-Testament  Balaamites  is  to  be  rewarded 
with  the  heavenly  priesthood.  The  Ephesian 
overcomer  is  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  which  is 
in  the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God;  and  the  Per- 
gamite  overcomer  is  to  eat  of  the  hidden  manna, 
and  possess  the  gem  of  heavenly  lights  and  com- 
munings with  the  mind  and  character  of  Christ 
as  His  everlasting  priest,  with  the  freedom  of  all 
the  mysteries  of  the  Holy  of  Holies. 

Dear  friends,  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be.  The  light  is  too  bright  and  dazzling 
for  us  to  look  into  it  or  to  penetrate  its  transcend- 
ent wonders.  But  it  is  the  privilege  of  all  to  be 
the  sons  of  God,  sure  of  this,  that  when  He  shall 
appear  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  Him 
as  He  is.  Meanwhile  we  have  these  earthly  de- 
pravities, temptations,  and  lies  to  fight  and  over- 
come. We  are  soldiers,  and  the  hardships  of  the 
long  campaign  and  the  weight  of  many  a  heavy 
battle  are  upon  us.  Often  we  may  be  sore  op- 
pressed. But  our  help  is  strong,  our  Captain  is 
mighty,  and  the  rewards  of  victory  are  worth  ten 
thousand-fold  more  than  all  it  costs.  It  is  our 
business  as  our  wisdom  to  fight  on  bravely,  faint 
yet  pursuing. 

These  Epistles  are  voices  from  the  better  land, 
full  of  melody  and  high  promise  to  inspire  us  with 


128  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

energy  and  quicken  our  zeal.  They  come  to  us 
from  Him  who  has  been  through  the  fight,  and 
would  bring  us  through  to  share  with  Him  in  the 
eternal  triumph.  And  as  we  thus  listen  to  the 
glorious  things  which  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the 
Church,  let  us  bind  them  as  precious  treasures  on 
our  hearts  and  hold  on  firmly  to  the  name  and 
faith  of  Jesus,  knowing  Who  it  is  that  has  said, 
"To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  give  to  eat  of 
the  hidden  manna,  and  I  will  give  him  a  white 
stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new  name  written,  which 
no  man  knoweth  saving  he  that  receiveth  it. ' ' 


Hccture  (ffigljri). 

Rev.  2:  l8,  19:  "And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Thyatira 
write :  These  things  saith  the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  his  eyes  hke  unto 
a  flame  of  fire,  and  liis  feet  are  like  fine  brass  :  I  know  thy  works,  and 
charity,  and  service,  antl  faith,  and  thy  patience,  and  thy  works ;  and 
the  last  to  be  more  than  the  first." 

HE  particular  part  of  these  Letters  of  Jesus 
which  now  comes  before  us  is  that  ad- 
dressed to  the  church  at  Thyatira,  of 
which  the  text  contaius  the  first  sectiou.  Let 
us  consider  it  with  due  attention. 

You  will  remember  that  Thyatira  was  the  place 
from  which  Lydia  came  of  whom  we  read  as  the 
first  disciple  converted  to  the  Lord  on  European 
soil.  Paul  found  her  with  other  women  at  the 
place  of  prayer  by  the  river-side  at  Philippi,  and 
spoke  to  them  of  Jesus;  and  the  Lord  opened  her 
heart  to  attend  to  the  things  which  he  spoke. 
Whereupon  she  was  baptized  as  a  Christian,  and 
afterward  entertained  Paul  and  Silas  at  her  house. 
She  was  in  Philippi  selling  purple  goods  for  which 
Thyatira  was  famed.  It  may  be  that  her  perma- 
nent home  was  at  Thyatira,  and  that  on  returning 

from  Macedonia  she  may  have  been  the  first  mem- 
9  129 


130  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ber  of  the  church  at  Thyatira,  as  she  had  been  of 
the  church  at  Philippi.  At  any  rate,  there  was  a 
church  at  Thyatira  in  the  latter  days  of  the  aged 
apostle  John,  and  Lydia  may  have  been  among 
its  members. 

In  the  text  we  find  two  things  to  be  noted; 

I.    What  Christ  says  of  Himself; 
11.    What  He  says  i7i  commeitdation  of  this  church. 

It  is  a  great  matter  to  know  what  to  think  of 
Christ  and  what  estimate  of  Him  to  keep  before 
our  minds.     To  think  wrongly   of  Him   and   of 
His  character,  offices,  and  powers  is  to  mistake  in 
the  most  vital  point  of  faith.      No  one  can  be 
right  without  thinking  rightly  of  Christ.     Hence 
He  is  so  particular  to  describe  Himself  in  these 
several  addresses.     To  the  church  of  Ephesus  He 
presented  Himself  as  ' '  He  that  holdeth  the  seven 
stars    [ministers   of  the   churches]    in    His  right 
hand,"   and  "who  walketh  in  the  midst  of  the 
seven  golden  candlesticks, ' '  which  are  the  churches. 
To  the  church  of  Smyrna  He  presented  Himself 
as  ' '  the  First  and  the  Last,  which  was  dead,  and 
is  alive."     To  the  church  at  Pergamos  He  pre- 
sented  Himself  as    ' '  He  which  hath  the  sharp 
sword  with  two  edges."     And  here  He  presents 
Himself  as  "the  Son  of  God,  who  hath  His  eyes 
like  unto  a  flame  of  fire  and  His  feet   like  fine 
brass."     The  meaning  is,  that  all  He  thus  says 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF   THYATIRA.  I3I 

of  Himself  to  the  several  churches  is  everywhere 
and  always  true  of  Him,  while  the  particular  de- 
scription in  each  specific  case  has  special  applica- 
tion to  the  state  of  things  in  the  church  addressed. 

In  this  church  of  Thyatira  there  were  some 
very  wrong  but  very  queenly  assumptions  which 
needed  special  rebuke  and  humiliation;  and  so 
the  Saviour  presents  Himself  here  in  His  divine 
royalty  as  ^' the  Son  of  God ^  He  would  have 
all  such  pretenders  and  usurpers  know  and  re- 
member that  He  who  speaks  has  the  supreme 
authority  and  is  the  very  Son  of  God  Himself. 

To  the  Jewish  mind  this  designation  meant  par- 
ticipation in  the  divine  nature  and  prerogatives, 
and  presented  a  claim  to  be  "equal  with  God." 
And  so  Christ  here  claims  to  be  "  the  only-begot- 
ten Son  of  God,"  who  came  forth  from  the  Father 
and  is  one  with  the  Father.  It  was  because  of 
this  claim  that  the  Jews  insisted  on  having  Him 
crucified,  holding  that  it  was  blasphemy  in  a  man 
to  make  himself  equal  with  God.  But  He  still 
makes  the  same  claim,  and  announces  Himself 
from  heaven  as  truly  the  Son  of  God.  We  there- 
fore mistake  our  Lord  if  we  fail  to  consider  Him 
as  God,  very  God  of  very  God,  and  hence  having 
supreme  authority  over  His  Church,  from  whose 
judgment  there  is  no  appeal,  and  against  whose 
power  no  opposition  can  stand.  No  king's  daugh- 
ters and  no  authority  or  power  of  man  can  hold 


132  THE  LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

against  the  Son  of  God.  His  is  no  arm  of  flesh 
that  the  wicked  may  break  it  or  that  His  people 
may  trust  in  it  in  vain.  He  is  true  Lord  and 
God,  for  He  proclaims  Himself  ^^  the  Son  of 
Gody 

Many  think  that  the  reference  is  to  the  second 
Psalm,  where  we  find  the  decree  of  the  eternal 
Father,  saying  unto  the  Son,  "  Thou  art  My  Son, 
this  day  have  I  begotten  Thee.  Ask  of  Me,  and 
I  shall  give  Thee  the  heathen  for  Thine  inherit- 
ance, and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  Thy 
possession.  Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a  rod 
of  iron.  Thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a 
potter's  vessel."  The  heathen  may  rage,  and  the 
people  imagine  a  vain  thing;  the  kings  of  the 
earth  may  set  themselves,  and  the  rulers  take 
counsel  together;  but  God  hath  set  His  King  on 
the  holy  hill  of  His  Zion,  and  to  Him  must  all 
reverence  be  rendered,  or  we  can  only  perish  by 
the  way.  Men  must  hail  Jesus  as  the  almighty 
and  everlasting  Son  of  the  Father  or  there  is  no 
hope  for  them.  At  His  word  the  earth  trembles; 
if  He  but  touch  the  hills,  they  smoke;  and  when 
He  shall  lift  the  veil  of  dark  clouds  which  now 
encompass  Him,  His  enemies  shall  reel  and  stag- 
ger, and  be  swept  away  like  stubble  before  the 
fire. 

And  with  this  presentation  agree  also  the  other 
particulars:   "7/<?  JiatJi  His  eyes  like  unto  a  fiame 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   TIIYATJRA.  I  33 

of  fire.''  There  is  nothing  more  piercing  than 
flaming  fire.  Everything  yields  and  melts  before 
it.  It  penetrates  all  things,  consumes  every  oppo- 
sition, sweeps  down  all  obstructions,  and  presses 
its  way  with  invincible  power.  And  of  this  sort 
are  the  eyes  of  Jesus.  They  look  through  every- 
thing; they  pierce  through  all  masks  and  cover- 
ings; they  search  the  remotest  recesses;  they  be- 
hold the  most  hidden  things  of  the  soul;  and  there 
is  no  escape  from  them.  As  the  Son  of  God  He 
is  omniscient  as  well  as  almighty.  As  Hagar  in 
her  grief  exclaimed,  "Thou  God  seest  me,"  so 
the  Son  of  God  sees  everything  that  is  going  on 
in  His  Church,  and  sees  every  one  of  us. 

This  is  at  once  a  very  comforting  and  yet  a  very 
solemn  truth.  As  far  as  we  are  honest,  true- 
hearted,  dutiful,  and  trying  to  be  the  disciples 
of  Jesus,  it  is  a  glad  thing  to  know  that  Jesus 
sees  us  and  can  read  our  thoughts  and  knows  our 
hearts,  and  will  do  us  justice.  But  when  we  think 
of  our  faults  and  failures  and  the  manv  things 
which  are  not  to  our  credit,  it  is  a  most  impress- 
ive reflection  that  it  is  all  "naked  and  open  to  the 
eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do."  How 
solemn  to  think  that  the  all-penetrating  eye  of  the 
Son  of  God  is  upon  each  one  of  us  now — in  close 
contact  with  every  heart  here  present — seeing  just 
how  we  feel,  with  w^hat  ideas  we  came  to  this  ser- 
vice, and  how  we  are  receiving  these  great  truths! 


134  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

We  Speak  sometimes  of  secret  thoughts,  hidden 
feelings,  things  which  lie  buried  in  our  souls  from 
all  human  knowledge  but  our  own.  But  there  is 
no  such  thing  in  relation  to  Christ.  He  sees  all 
and  knows  all.  From  Him  there  is  nothing  se- 
cret, nothing  hid. 

Many  are  not  what  they  seem  to  be.  What 
God  made  to  express  and  show  the  soul  is  often 
trained  to  conceal  it  and  to  make  an  outward  ap- 
pearance of  what  has  no  reality  within.  The  se- 
rene brow,  the  bright  and  candid  look,  the  firm 
step,  and  the  open  countenance,  meant  to  speak 
the  innocence,  truth,  and  moral  dignity  of  the 
soul,  are  often  imitated  and  feigned  to  hide  from 
others  the  dastard  spirit  which  reigns  within. 
People  often  make  a  show  of  goodness  and  de- 
votion, sometimes  by  self-deception,  sometimes 
with  deliberate  intent,  in  order  to  gain  favors  or 
promote  their  own  selfish  ends.  They  use  the 
refinements  of  life  or  the  garb  of  piety  to  hide 
what  God  condemns  and  washes  to  extirpate. 
Modern  society  is  full  of  this  elegant  hypocrisy, 
and  the  people  of  the  Church  are  not  always  free 
from  it.  It  is  one  of  the  arts  of  our  day  to  cover 
guilt  with  smiles,  iniquity  with  fair-sounding 
words,  and  bad  morals  with  attractive  and  fasci- 
nating manners.  But  Christ's  piercing  eye  flames 
through  all  such  falsities  and  deceits.  People 
may  impose  upon  each  other  and  hide  their  real 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   TIIYATIRA.  1 35 

hearts  from  the  gaze  of  man,  but  they  cannot  im- 
pose on  Christ.  He  sees  beneath  all  masks  and 
detects  the  miserable  lie.  Even  those  latent  pro- 
pensities to  evil  which  good  people  often  feel,  and 
those  folded  buds  of  covetousness,  pride,  ambition, 
impurity,  or  malice  as  they  lie  in  the  secret  soul, 
and  those  schemes  of  evil  which  circumstances 
repress,  those  sympathies  which  we  would  fain 
conceal,  those  lurking  passions  which  Providence 
keeps  back  from  development,  those  secret  sins 
and  deeds  of  darkness  which  are  so  carefully  shut 
in  from  observation,  as  well  as  the  prayers  and 
struggles  of  the  conscientious, — Christ  sees  and 
knows,  and  has  registered  before  Him. 

And  how  dark  must  this  earth  appear  to  the 
bright,  burning,  and  all-penetrating  eye  of  Jesus, 
to  whom  all  the  hidden  sins  and  falsities  and  cor- 
ruptions of  men  are  as  naked  and  open  as  their 
more  shameless  vices!  What  a  spectacle  will  the 
day  of  judgment  reveal  when  all  that  is  in  peo- 
ple's hearts  will  be  laid  bare  and  every  one  is  seen 
precisely  as  he  is!  There  is,  indeed,  a  covering 
for  sin  to  those  who  will  take  it.  God  has  cove- 
nanted to  blot  out  the  sins  of  them  that  embrace 
the  great  Propitiation;  and  His  promise  to  such 
is  that  their  sins  and  iniquities  shall  no  more  come 
into  remembrance:  "The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  from  all  sin;"  and  where  we  have  Jesus 
for  our  Advocate  and  Friend  we  shall  never  be 


136  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ashamed.  But  His  eye  is  very  keen,  and  we  can- 
not secure  exemption  by  mere  make-believes, 
shams,  and  halfway  work. 

But,  further:  ^^ His  feet  are  as  fine  bj-ass'''' — 
"like  unto  fine  brass  as  if  they  burned  in  a 
furnace. ' ' 

Feet  are  the  instruments  of  motion  and  down- 
treading.  Brass  tells  of  strong  and  imperious 
power  for  judicial  administration.  And  fluent, 
glowing  brass  bespeaks  intense  and  burning 
purity.  Putting  these  ideas  together,  we  have 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  burning  holiness  and 
mighty  strength  of  Christ  to  tread  down  what- 
ever is  opposed  to  Him,  and  to  crush  the  unholy 
into  everlasting  fire. 

Christ's  eyes  of  flame  to  see  all,  and  His  pene- 
tration into  all  secrets,  have  a  purpose.  They  are 
to  enable  Him  to  distinguish  between  the  wheat 
and  the  chaff  And  His  feet  of  brass  are  for  the 
treading  down  in  judgment  of  all  that  is  unholy 
and  impure.  As  hypocrites  and  unbelievers  are 
all  known  to  Him,  so  He  is  armed  to  crush  them 
in  righteous  indig^nation  for  their  falsities  and 
unfaith. 

II.  Notice  now  what  He  finds  in  this  church  to 
commend. 

Farther  on  He  tells  of  what  was  wrong;  but 
with  all  the  faultiness  there  was  much  good.     In 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 37 

the  very  worst  of  these  churches  there  still  was 
something  to  approve. 

It  is  a  hard  thing  for  a  Church  to  become  so 
totally  apostate  as  to  have  nothing  good  in  it. 
Amid  all  the  depravity  and  corruption  there  still 
are  likely  to  be  some  who  really  love  and  serve 
Christ.  Sodom  had  a  Lot;  the  bleakest  desert 
has  some  green  spots;  the  snowiest  mountain  still 
has  some  humble  flowers;  and  so  we  may  count 
that  there  are  some  good  and  believing  people  in 
very  defective  communions.  And  Jesus  has  eyes 
to  spy  them  out,  and  a  heart  to  honor  and  com- 
mend them  if  they  are  really  to  be  found.  He  is 
not  unjust  to  forget  any  one's  labor  of  love,  and  is 
all  the  more  sympathetic  with  His  people  because 
of  the  disadvantages  under  which  they  hold  fast 
to  Him.  When  Nathanael  was  hidden  away 
under  the  fig  tree  communing  with  God  in  secret, 
Jesus  observed  him  and  noted  his  devotion;  and 
the  good  works  of  His  servants,  though  never 
made  known  to  the  world — those  heart-prayers 
where  there  was  no  strength  for  more,  those  earn- 
est desires  to  do  which  had  to  remain  desires  be- 
cause there  was  no  power  to  carry  them  into  effect, 
and  all  that  is  attempted  and  achieved  for  God  and 
righteousness — He  sees  and  registers  in  His  mem- 
ory for  blessing  and  reward. 

There  were  believers  in  Thyatira  in  whose 
hearts  dwelt    the    love   and    charity   which    true 


138  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

faith  always  works.  They  loved  Christ,  they 
loved  His  cause  and  His  Church  and  His  poor. 
And  He  here  sent  to  them  the  comforting  assur- 
ance that  He  knew  it,  and  had  taken  due  account 
of  it  to  their  credit. 

It  is  a  pleasant  thing  for  any  one  to  know  and 
feel  that  his  heart  is  right,  and  that  he  is  doing 
what  his  conscience  approves;  but  it  is  a  still 
more  precious  thing  to  know  that  Jesus  observes 
and  approves  it. 

Very  good  service  also  had  been  done  by  some 
of  these  people  of  Thyatira.  They  not  only 
loved,  but  they  were  active  in  ministries  of  love. 
Where  they  had  opportunity  they  did  good  unto 
all  men,  especially  to  them  who  were  of  the  house- 
hold of  faith. 

There  are  many  doors  open  for  Christian  useful- 
ness. All  can  do  something  for  the  Saviour  and 
His  cause;  and  these  had  shown  their  devotion  in 
such  ways  as  were  open  to  them.  And  this  also 
the  Saviour  noted  with  commendation.  Even  the 
giving  of  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  thirsty  one  in 
the  name  of  a  disciple  has  its  record  in  heaven, 
and  will  be  mentioned  to  our  credit  by  our  blessed 
Lord  and  Judge. 

When  Christ  calls  us  to  be  Christians,  He  calls 
us  to  a  service — to  work  in  His  vineyard,  to  lay 
out  our  talents  for  usefulness  and  profit — and  it  is 
a  great  matter  to  be  found  faithful,  doing  what  we 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 39 

can,  ministering  according  to  our  gifts.  It  pleases 
Christ  and  calls  forth  His  commendation,  and 
when  we  come  to  stand  before  Him  in  the  day 
of  reckoning  He  has  told  us  that  He  will  say  to 
every  such  dutiful  one,  '*Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant !  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord." 

But  with  this  love  and  service  there  were  also 
faith  and  patience.  Moses  endured  as  seeing  Him 
who  is  invisible.  This  was  living  faith  in  God 
and  the  divine  promises,  and  the  root-principle 
which  led  him  to  choose  suffering  with  the  people 
of  God  rather  than  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for 
a  season.  A  similar  faith  and  faithfulness  existed 
in  some  of  these  Thyatirians.  They  had  heard 
the  Gospel,  and  embraced  it,  and  turned  their 
backs  on  the  evil  and  idolatrous  world  to  live  for 
Christ  and  heaven.  They  had  made  their  choice. 
They  had  given  themselves  to  be  the  citizens  of 
that  invisible  and  spiritual  kingdom  of  which  Je- 
sus is  the  Head.  They  had  received  the  promises 
and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that  they  were 
strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth;  and  they 
were  now  on  the  way  to  a  better  country — that  is, 
an  heavenly.  All  this  Christ  assures  them  that 
He  had  noticed  and  had  record  of  it  in  heaven. 

There  is  nothing  that  more  pleases  our  Saviour 
than  that  we  should  be  full  of  faith  and  confidence 
in  Him,  His  word,  and  His  saving  power.     All 


140  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

that  stands  written  in  the  Gospel  He  has  caused 
to  be  written,  that  we  might  believe  that  He  is 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  believing  we 
might  have  life  through  His  name.  When  on 
earth  He  departed  from  a  certain  country,  and  did 
not  many  mighty  works  there,  because  of  the  un- 
belief of  the  people.  He  loves  to  be  trusted,  and 
loves  them  that  love  Him,  and  stands  pledged  to 
bring  to  honor  all  them  that  put  their  trust  in 
Him.  And  the  great  question  which  He  asks  of 
every  one  is,  "Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son  of 
God?"     Everything  depends  on  that. 

And  as  service  goes  with  love,  so  patience  goes 
with  faith — a  readiness  to  endure  and  suffer  for 
Christ's  sake — a  firm  holding  on  in  trial — a  con- 
tinuance in  well-doing  against  whatever  discour- 
agements may  come.  And  of  this  there  were  also 
some  exemplary  ones  in  the  church  of  Thyatira. 
They  had  much  to  dishearten  them.  They  were 
not  only  stigmatized  and  hated  by  their  more  nu- 
merous heathen  neighbors,  with  all  the  common 
trials  and  temptations  accompanying  Christian 
life,  but  they  had  special  conflicts  and  discourage- 
ments within  the  church  itself.  Their  minister 
was  an  easy-going  man,  like  Bli  of  old,  quite  too 
compliant  in  letting  things  have  their  way.  In 
Ephesus  there  was  much  zeal  for  sound  doctrine, 
and  strictness  in  maintaining  it;  but  here  there 
was  no  discipline  and  no  proper  care  on  that  sub- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYAriRA.  I4I 

ject.  Not  only  were  the  most  corrupting  teach- 
ings allowed,  but  the  most  heretical  and  immoral 
pretensions  and  practices  were  permitted,  if  not 
encouraged.  A  large  portion  of  the  church  was 
making  common  cause  with  heathenism,  and  pro- 
moting principles  which  overturned  all  Christian 
truth  and  morality.  Another  Jezebel  had  made 
her  appearance  there,  doing  as  bad  work  for  the 
church  in  Thyatira  as  Ahab's  heathen  wife  had 
done  for  ancient  Israel.  An  order  of  things  had 
come  about  in  which  it  was  no  longer  an  easy 
matter  to  be  a  true  and  faithful  Christian,  There 
was  much  to  provoke  and  vex  the  souls  of  honest 
and  virtuous  believers.  The  cause  of  Christ  was 
being  so  scandalized  and  perverted  that  there  was 
strong  temptation  to  abandon  all  connection  with 
a  fellowship  embracing  such  corruptions  and  falsi- 
ties. But  they  had  patience  and  held  on,  unwill- 
ing to  forsake  the  ship,  though  it  had  so  many 
unclean  and  unworthy  passengers  aboard.  And 
for  this  the  Saviour  commended  them. 

It  was  "through  faith  and  patience"  that  the 
ancient  Fathers  inherited  the  promises,  and  we 
must  ever  let  patience  have  its  perfect  work.  It 
will  not  do  to  drop  all  and  sulk  away  from  place 
and  duty  because  things  do  not  go  right  or  be- 
cause some  are  mere  hypocrites  and  unclean  pre- 
tenders. The  Church  is  Christ's,  and  we  are  not 
to  forsake  it  because  there  are  Jezebels  in  it  who 


142  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

pervert  its  truth,  belie  its  faith,  and  scandalize  it 
by  their  bad  lives.  We  cannot  expect  to  have 
heaven  on  this  corrupt  earth.  We  will  always 
have  much  to  bear,  and  much  wrong  and  vexation 
to  put  up  with,  and  many  annoying  discourage- 
ments to  meet,  so  long  as  this  world  lasts.  Hu- 
manity is  depraved  and  perverse,  and  its  evils 
will  manifest  themselves  in  one  way  or  another  to 
disgust,  and  grieve  us.  But  we  must  not  give  up 
on  that  account.  Christ  had  to  endure  great  con- 
tradiction of  sinners,  and  was  even  betrayed  and 
denied  by  some  of  His  own  most  trusted  disciples; 
and  His  followers  must  expect  disheartening  trials 
of  all  sorts.  He  held  on  in  His  gracious  work 
amid  all  His  adversities,  ever  faithful  to  Him  that 
appointed  Him;  and  He  would  have  us  courage- 
ously follow  His  steps.  We  can  never  make 
things  better  by  giving  up  to  discouragements 
and  trials.  And,  whatever  the  hardships  may 
be,  He  takes  notice  of  them,  and  His  favor  is 
with  those  who  continue  steadfast,  "patient  in 
tribulation"  and  slow  to  weary  in  well-doing. 
He  takes  notice  of  our  patience  as  well  as  of  our 
successful  achievements,  and  our  patient  endur- 
ance is  one  of  the  things  which  He  will  honor 
and  reward. 

But  there  was  still  another  commendable  feat- 
ure in  the  character  of  these  Thyatirian  saints. 
In  spite  of  all  their  adversities,  they  were  grozv- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 43 

ing  in  their  service  of  love  and  patience  of  faith. 
Their  last  works  were  more  than  the  first. 

People  who  act  on  mere  worldly  principles  are 
apt  to  do  their  best  first,  and  to  connt  that  that 
ought  to  suffice.  If  supplements  are  added,  they 
are  mostly  feebler  and  done  with  less  heart  and 
diminished  cheerfulness.  Having  done  so  and  so, 
they  are  prone  to  think  their  part  done,  and  that 
they  are  henceforth  to  be  exempt.  It  was  not  so 
with  these  saints.  They  had  done  well  at  the  be- 
ginning, and  they  were  doing  better  at  the  last. 
And  this  the  Saviour  noted  and  commended. 

It  is  meant  that  we  should  ever  "grow  in 
grace,"  in  labors  of  love,  and  in  the  patience  of 
faith.  We  are  never  done  while  we  are  in  this 
world.  If  we  have  done  commendably  in  the 
past,  we  are  to  try  to  do  more  commendably  as 
strength  increases  and  the  circumstances  call  and 
require.  Our  Saviour  expects  this  of  us,  and  He 
is  all  the  more  pleased  when  our  last  works  are 
more  than  the  first.  It  is  not  meet  that  we  should 
always  remain  babes  in  Christ,  but  that  we  should 
grow  and  progress  in  faith,  knowledge,  experience, 
patience,  and  all  good  works.  Having  been  born 
into  the  kingdom,  it  is  that  we  may  develop  into 
good,  intelligent,  active,  and  useful  citizens  in 
that  kingdom.  Having  set  our  feet  upon  the 
way,  it  is  that  we  may  go  on  unto  perfection. 
As  children  are  always  longing  to  be  men  and 


144  THE  LETTERS   OE  JES.US. 

women,  so  we  are  ever  to  be  aspiring  to  the  full 
stature  of  men  and  women  in  Christ  Jesus.  And 
it  is  always  more  or  less  a  reproach  w^hen  for  the 
time  we  ought  to  be  teachers,  and  yet  have  need 
to  be  taught  what  are  the  first  principles  of  the 
doctrine  of  Christ. 

Dear  friends,  there  is  no  standstill  in  living 
Christianity.  If  we  have  faith,  it  will  work  and 
grow  by  exercise.  The  moment  patience,  cour- 
age, and  activity  fail,  Christian  character  stag- 
nates and  retrogrades.  We  must  keep  moving 
and  doing,  so  that  when  the  end  comes  we  may 
look  back  upon  lives  fragrant  with  good  deeds 
and  holy  services,  and  feel  that  we  have  at  least 
honestly  tried  to  do  our  duty  and  to  fulfil  our  call- 
ing in  Christ  Jesus.  And  blessed  is  that  disciple 
whose  last  works  of  love  and  service  and  faith  and 
patience  are  more  and  better  than  the  first. 


iLecture  i^inti). 

Rev,  2  :  20-23  •  "  Notwithstanding,  I  have  a  few  things  against  thee, 
because  thou  sufferest  that  woman  Jezebel,  which  calleth  herself  a 
prophetess,  to  teach  and  to  seduce  my  servants  to  commit  fornication, 
and  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols.  And  I  gave  her  space  to  repent 
of  her  fornication,  and  she  repented  not.  Behold,  I  will  cast  her  into 
a  bed,  and  them  that  commit  adultery  with  her  into  great  tribulation, 
except  they  repent  of  their  deeds.  And  I  will  kill  her  children  with 
death ;  and  all  the  churches  shall  know  that  I  am  He  which  searcheth 
the  reins  and  hearts :  and  I  will  give  unto  every  one  of  you  according 
to  your  works." 

FTER  the  exalted  commendation  of  the 
laborious  and  increasing  works  of  love 
and  ministration,  faith  and  patience,  in 
this  church  of  Thyatira,  we  would  hardly  an- 
ticipate much  room  for  reproof  and  rebuke,  still 
less  for  censures  so  sharp  and  threatening  as  those 
which  now  actually  come  before  us.  But  the  best 
of  churches  are  often  troubled  with  very  unworthy 
members,  and  the  worst  are  sometimes  those  who 
are  most  prominent,  active,  and  pretentious. 

Christ,  however,  is  no  respecter  of  persons. 
He  is  holy  and  true;  His  eyes  are  like  a  flame 
of  fire;  He  searcheth  the  heart  and  trieth  the 
reins;  He  sees  through  all  pretences,  disguises, 
and  self-deceits;  He  tries  activities  according  to 

10  145 


146  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

their  principles;  He  estimates  people  for  what 
they  are  in  reality;  and  He  has  feet  of  brass  to 
bring  fiery  judgment  upon  men  and  women,  high 
and  low,  wdio  are  found  abusing  and  perverting 
their  calling  and  profession,  misleading  His  peo- 
ple and  corrupting  His  laws  and  ordinances.  His 
love  is  great,  and  His  forbearance  is  not  soon  ex- 
hausted; but  He  is  as  holy,  as  loving,  and  as  se- 
verely just  as  He  is  patiently  forbearing.  He  has 
no  compromises  to  make  between  good  and  evil, 
neither  does  He  allow  the  one  to  be  compensated 
for  and  offset  by  the  other.  Because  people  mean 
it  well  while  yet  greatly  erring,  or  because  they 
are  looking  to  the  more  successful  popularizing  of 
the  Church  by  doubtful  proposals  and  impure  com- 
pliances, they  are  not  therefore  excused  and  passed 
as  unblamable.  People  must  be  right  according 
to  Christ,  and  not  simply  right  according  to  their 
own  judgments,  notions,  and  fancies,  or  they  set 
up  a  bar  between  the  divine  favor  and  themselves, 
and  fall  under  rebuke  and  threatening  instead  of 
blessing  and  promise.  And,  comforting  and  as- 
suring as  were  the  praises  which  the  Saviour  here 
pronounced  upon  some.  His  accusations  and  con- 
demnation of  others  were  peculiarly  sharp  and 
severe. 

It  happened  also  that  the  centre  of  this  par- 
ticular plague-spot  in  the  church  of  Thyatira  was 
a  woman.     The  Church  has  ever  been  much  ad- 


rO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 47 

vantaged  by  the  influence  and  activities  of  its 
women.  They  personally  ministered  to  Christ 
in  His  arduous  labors  when  on  earth,  and  Paul 
has  numerous  special  acknowledgments  of  the 
good  services  rendered  to  the  cause  of  the  Gospel 
bv  believing^  women.  Women  in  (general  are 
more  ready  to  take  hold  of  sacred  thino^s  than 
men.  A  right  woman  has  more  soul  than  a  man, 
and  has  a  more  tender  spiritual  sensibility.  Man 
was  made  first,  and  so  was  meant  to  stand  fore- 
most as  the  main  outer  wall  of  the  great  social 
fabric;  woman  was  made  afterward,  to  supplement 
what  was  wanting  in  man,  to  be  a  help  to  him, 
as  the  more  graceful  inner  genius  of  adornment, 
moving  with  quicker  and  lighter  step,  speaking 
with  a  softer  voice,  taking  hold  with  gentler  and 
more  persuasive  touch,  and  encouraging,  bright- 
ening, and  mellowing  with  a  more  angelic  love 
and  service. 

Christianity  has  honored  and  blessed  woman  as 
no  other  religion  ever  has  done;  and  since  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  world  condescended  to  be  born  of  a 
woman  the  sex  has  shown  instinctive  recognition 
of  the  blessing  He  has  brought  to  them,  and  has 
never  ceased  to  fill  the  prophecy  of  having  been 
the  last  at  His  cross  and  the  first  at  His  sepulchre. 
It  was  not  without  significance  for  all  time  that 
the  first  person  to  whom  the  risen  Saviour  spoke 
was  a  woman,  and  that  He  gave  to  her  a  commis- 


148  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

sion  of  love  even  to  the  chief  of  the  disciples. 
And  since  that  time  women  have  ever  been  the 
most  numerous  class  of  His  followers  and  among 
the  most  active  and  devoted  of  His  saints,  while 
woman's  work  in  the  Church  has  ever  been  of 
very  great  worth. 

But  the  very  qualities  which  prepare  her  for  so 
much  usefulness  also  render  her  capable  of  very 
much  mischief  If  the  Church  has  been  greatly 
blessed  by  the  pious  services  of  women,  it  has  also 
at  times  been  greatly  harmed  and  hurt  by  the 
doings  of  women.  Miriam  long  served  Israel  as 
a  prophetess,  yet  from  her  jealous  heart  and  evil 
tongue  she  stirred  up  a  murmuring  and  revolt 
which  carried  with  it  even  Aaron  and  the  elders 
and  produced  a  far-reaching  trouble,  which,  but 
for  the  interposing  judgment  of  God,  would  have 
involved  the  whole  people  in  divine  condemna- 
tion. And  so  the  particular  evil  which  troubled 
and  spoiled  the  church  at  Thyatira  was  traceable 
to  the  activity  of  one  of  its  prominent  and  influ- 
ential women. 

Her  name  was  Jezebel^  which  means  "the 
chaste,"  but  she  was  in  real  character  an^^thing 
but  what  her  name  signified.  Bearing  the  name 
of  Ahab's  queen,  she  shared  largely  in  that  noted 
woman's  qualities,  and  her  influence  on  the  Thya- 
tirian  church  was  much  like  that  of  the  ancient 
Jezebel  on  the  kingdom  of  Israel.     The  ancient 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 49 

Jezebel  was  the  daughter  of  a  royal  priest  of  Baal, 
and  was  herself  a  patron  and  prophetess  of  Astarte 
and  of  the  obscene  orgies  connected  with  the  wor- 
ship of  that  goddess.  She  also  induced  Ahab  to 
recognize  these  abominations  as  part  of  the  na- 
tional religion.  And  so  this  Jezebel  gave  herself 
out  as  a  leader  of  instruction  and  devotion,  pro- 
claimed herself  a  prophetess,  and  set  on  foot  a 
system  of  things  which  swayed  even  the  minister 
of  the  church,  and  found  a  large  and  influential 
following.  She  was  doubtless  a  woman  of  genius 
and  much  force  of  character,  and  perhaps  also  of 
high  birth  and  connections,  to  be  able  so  to  im- 
pose upon  an  otherwise  good  and  faithful  pastor 
and  to  mislead  so  many  of  his  flock. 

In  the  early  days  of  Christianity  it  was  common 
for  the  spirit  of  prophecy  to  be  given  to  women 
as  well  as  men,  and  for  them  at  times  to  exercise 
their  gift  in  the  Church  even  as  the  men,  though 
it  soon  became  necessary  to  interpose  some  con- 
straints, that  the  bounds  of  modesty  and  decorum 
might  not  be  transcended,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
heathen  pythonesses,  who  prophesied  with  dis- 
hevelled hair  and  raving  extravagances,  regard- 
less of  all  decent  propriety.  ''Philip  the  evan- 
gelist had  four  daughters,  virgins,  which  did 
prophesy,"  and  it  is  mentioned  to  their  credit; 
and  so  it  doubtless  was  in  many  other  instances, 
according  to  the  ancient  promise:  "  Your  sons  and 


150  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

your  daughters  shall  prophesy."  One  of  these 
Christian  female  prophets  this  Jezebel  claimed  to 
be,  and  hence  was  given  great  ' '  liberty  of  proph- 
esying," so  that  she  came  to  be  regarded  as  an 
authority  and  gained  great  influence. 

Nor  does  the  Saviour  say  that  she  was  not  su- 
pernaturally  impelled.  The  only  point  made  in 
that  regard  is  that  her  spirit  was  not  at  all  the 
Spirit  of  God.  She  claimed  that  it  was  of  God, 
and  may  have  persuaded  herself,  as  she  persuaded 
others,  that  her  inspiration  was  divine,  but  all  the 
circumstances  and  facts  of  the  case  show  that  it 
was  an  inspiration  from  below  and  not  from 
above.  If  she  had  the  gift,  she  certainly  had 
not  the  grace. 

There  was  demoniac  inspiration  among  the 
heathen,  and  there  are  many  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture to  show  that  similar  infernal  inspirations 
manifested  themselves  among  professing  Chris- 
tians. Paul  and  John  both  give  rules  for  trying 
the  spirits  to  test  whether  they  are  of  God  or  not. 
Tesus  Himself  savs  that  "  manv  shall  come  in  the 
day  of  judgment,  saying  unto  Him,  Have  we  not 
prophesied  in  Thy  name,  and  in  Thy  name  have 
done  many  wonderful  works?  unto  whom  He 
shall  say,  I  never  knew  you;  depart  from  Me, 
ye  workers  of  iniquity."  The  false  prophet  of 
the  last  times  is  spoken  of  as  doing  great  won- 
ders, and  deceiving  the  dwellers  on  the  earth  by 


TO    THE   CHURCH   OF   THYATIRA.  I51 

means  of  the  miracles  which  he  has  power  to  do. 
And  from  the  days  of  Jannes  and  Jambres  in  Egypt 
Satanic  and  demoniac  powers  and  inspirations  have 
run  parallel  with  the  manifestations  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  often  so  cunningly  disguised  as  to  influence 
and  captivate  the  confidence  of  men  more  than  the 
true  manifestations  from  God.  Even  to  this  day 
spiritists  and  mediums,  men  and  women,  are  proud 
to  say  that  they  speak  and  do  marvellous  things 
by  the  inspiration  and  aid  of  spirits  and  powers 
from  another  world;  and  the}'  have  their  foUow- 
ings  too,  as  if  they  verily  were  divine  oracles  for 
the  setting  of  this  world  right.  That  their  in- 
spiration is  not  of  God  their  character  and  their 
teachings  abundantly  show;  but  that  it  is  all  sham 
and  pretence  I  am  not  prepared  to  afhrm.  Only 
this  I  know:  that  their  teachings  are  from  beneath 
and  that  their  whole  system  is  in  the  devil's  inter- 
est and  service.  There  is  no  holy  spirit  in  any- 
thing they  say  or  do.  And  of  this  sort  was  the 
inspiration  of  this  Jezebel,  who  by  claiming  divin- 
ity for  her  foul  spewings  overawed  her  pastor  and 
led  many  of  his  flock  astray. 

The  nature  of  her  destructive  heresy  was  of  the 
same  general  sort  as  that  which  Balaam  taught 
Balak  for  the  ruin  of  Israel,  and  which  Ahab's 
queen  was  so  successful  in  introducing  in  the 
days  of  Elijah.  The  substance  of  it  was  the  oblit- 
eration of  the  lines  of  demarcation  between  the 


152  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Church  and  the  world,  between  Christian  purity 
and  heathen  debauchery — the  throwing  of  the 
sanctions  of  religion  over  carnal  indulgence  and 
impure  life.  The  most  shameless  sins  were  prac- 
tised and  encouraged  in  tlie  name  of  devotion  as 
a  triumph  over  Satan  in  his  own  dominions — a 
descending  into  "the  depths  of  Satan,"  thereby 
to  taunt  and  defy  him.  It  was  a  devilish  hallu- 
cination. It  was  Antinomianism  of  the  worst 
and  most  vulgar  sort.  In  the  name  of  the  higher 
Christianity  it  exalted  Christian  liberty  to  such  a 
height  as  to  make  a  virtue  of  defiant  plunging 
into  the  basest  crimes  of  heathenism  to  prove  the 
sublime  exemption  which  the  Gospel  works.  To 
commit  fornication,  to  live  in  impurity,  to  par- 
take of  the  heathen  feasts,  and  boldly  to  eat  and 
drink  what  was  dedicated  to  idol  gods,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  Christian  freedom  and  in  token  of  Christian 
triumph,  was  what  they  specially  commended. 
Super-exalting  the  saying  of  Paul,  that  ' '  there 
is  now  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in 
Christ  Jesus,"  they  completely  set  aside  and  nul- 
lified the  further  part  of  the  declaration,  that  this 
exemption  is  only  to  those  ' '  who  walk  not  after 
the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  They  perverted 
the  Christian  calling  so  as  to  make  it  a  call  and 
license  to  uncleanness  rather  than  to  holiness. 

We  can  hardly  conceive  how  people  could  be- 
come so  deluded  and  deceived;  and  yet  such  are 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 53 

the  inspirations  of  spiritism  even  to  the  present 
day,  to  which  so  many  commit  their  sonls.  Even 
some  Christians  seem  to  think  it  no  great  harm 
to  indulge  themselves  after  the  world's  ways  and 
fashions,  and  that  it  is  better  for  the  Church  to 
make  free  use  of  what  the  world  likes  and  fancies. 
But  a  worldly  Church  and  a  fleshly  and  voluptu- 
ous life  are  ever  at  variance  with  Christ,  who  has 
only  eyes  of  fire  and  feet  of  brass  and  words  of 
condemnation  for  all  such  doings. 

It  would  seem  as  if  this  were  not  the  first  time 
that  special  warning  and  reproof  had  been  given 
to  these  false  members  of  the  church  of  Thyatira. 
The  Saviour  speaks  of  having  given  this  Jezebel 
space  to  repent  of  her  impurities.  This  implies 
that  she  had  had  due  admonition  concerning  her 
evil  ways.  Perhaps  the  apostle  John  himself  had 
been  there  administering  his  apostolic  reproofs 
to  these  errorists.  Some  authoritative  rebuke 
had  certainly  been  given,  even  if  the  min- 
ister in  charge  had  not  done  his  duty  in  the 
case. 

God  is  never  summary  in  His  judgments. 
'  *  Sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed 
speedily."  He  always  gives  timely  warning  be- 
fore He  strikes.  His  great  desire  is  that  sinners 
may  come  to  repentance,  and  hence  He  is  forbear- 
ing and  long-suflfering,  warning  them  of  their 
danger,   signifying  His  mind,   and  giving   them 


154  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Space  to  reform  and  better  their  ways.  The 
crimes  of  the  old  world  cried  long  to  Heaven, 
while  prophet  after  prophet  was  sent  to  rebuke 
them  and  call  the  erring  ones  to  repentance. 
Even  after  it  repented  God  that  He  had  made 
man,  and  He  had  determined  to  destroy  the  rebels 
from  the  earth,  He  delayed  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty years  while  Enoch  and  Noah  preached  to  them 
of  righteousness  and  a  coming  judgment.  When 
the  sins  of  the  Canaanites  came  up  before  God 
and  their  extermination  was  announced,  four  hun- 
dred years  did  the  judgment  linger  while  Abra- 
ham, Lot,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  sojourned  among  them 
as  God's  witnesses  to  lead  them  to  reform.  He 
bore  long  with  Ahab,  and  raised  up  Elijah  to  re- 
buke him  and  to  give  due  warning  to  the  infamous 
Jezebel  of  the  fiery  judgments  that  impended. 
And  so  it  is  the  principle  of  His  administrations 
to  give  due  warning  to  offenders  and  time  for 
them  to  repent  before  He  allows  judgment  to 
strike. 

But  there  is  a  point  beyond  which  God's  for- 
bearance will  not  go,  and  then  the  visitation  is 
all  the  more  terrible  if  the  wicked  have  failed  to 
profit  by  His  leniency  and  admonitions.  He  had 
given  this  Jezebel  space  to  repent,  ^^  but  she  re- 
pented noty  She  had  only  despised  reproof  and 
gone  on  with  her  wickedness,  until  now  her  pro- 
bation was  at  an  end.     There  was  to  be  no  more 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 55 

delay.     Judgment  was  at  hand,  and  terrible  tliitt 
judgment  was  to  be. 

There  were  several  classes  of  offenders  in  this 
instance — some  guiltier  and  more  responsible  than 
others,  and  so  there  was  a  graduation  in  the  pun- 
ishments. 

First  and  guiltiest  was  this  woman  Jezebel,  who 
claimed  to  be  a  prophetess  and  who  was  the  in- 
spiration and  head  of  the  debauching  mischief. 
She  had  paramours  whom  she  had  drawn  into  her 
uncleanness.  And  the  sentence  was,  I  will  cast 
her  and  them  into  a  bed — not  simply  a  bed  of 
sickness  or  a  bed  of  death,  but  that  bed  of  which 
the  Psalmist  spoke  wdien  he  said,  "Though  I 
make  my  bed  in  hell."  "Into  great  tribula- 
tion" they  were  to  be  cast.  And  this  sentence 
was  now  to  go  into  effect  unless  the  guilty  parties 
should  "at  once  repent  of  their  evil  deeds." 

But  this  woman  had  children,  perhaps  natural 
children — at  least  children  in  the  sense  of  disci- 
ples and  followers  of  her  pernicious  teachings. 
These  had  been  seduced,  deceived,  and  imposed 
on,  but  still  w^ere  not  excused  or  exempted.  Their 
sentence  was  to  be  killed,  to  suffer  an  evil  death, 
to  be  suddenly  cut  off  And  so  marked  was  the 
judgment  to  be  that  all  the  churches  should  know 
how  Christ  searches  the  hearts  and  reins  and  re- 
wardeth  every  one  according  to  his  works. 

Dear  friends,  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  be  indulg- 


156  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

ifig  our  own  lusts  and  pleasures  and  to  be  deluding 
ourselves  with  the  Christian  profession  and  hopes 
while  we  consent  to  run  with  the  wicked  world 
and  suffer  ourselves  to  be  contaminated  with  its 
impurities  and  sins.  Come  out  from  among  them 
and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  I^ord.  "Adultery, 
fornication,  uncleanness,  lasciviousness,  idolatry, 
witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath, 
strife,  seditions,  heresies,  envyings,  murders, 
drunkenness,  revellings,  and  such  like,"  are  all 
works  of  the  flesh  and  "depths  of  Satan,"  which 
no  man  can  yield  to  and  yet  retain  his  Christian 
character  and  hopes.  It  is  for  these  things  that 
the  wrath  of  God  cometh  upon  the  children  of 
disobedience,  and  they  which  do  them  must  thor- 
oughly repent  out  of  their  evil  ways  or  they  can 
by  no  means  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  The 
flowers  that  spring  from  a  true  Christian  heart  are 
of  quite  anotlier  sort.  "The  fruit  of  the  Spirit 
is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance:  against 
such  there  is  no  law;  and  they  that  are  Christ's 
have  crucified  the  flesh  with  its  passions  and 
lusts." 

But  for  the  rest  that  were  in  Thyatira,  the  bet- 
ter class  of  professors,  those  wdio  had  not  been  se- 
duced into  the  infamous  doctrines  and  deeds  of 
this  Jezebel  and  her  lovers,  those  who  had  not 
known   "the  depths  of  Satan"  as  these  heretics 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF   THYATFRA.  1 57 

boasted  of  knowing,  there  was  also  a  special  word. 
It  was  a  happy  thing  for  them  that  they  had  not 
gone  into  this  satanic  school,  that  they  had  not 
lent  themselves  to  experiment  with  what  was 
landed  as  the  higher  mysteries  of  Christian  lib- 
erty. It  was  a  good  thing  that  they  had  been 
content  with  the  simple  knowledge  of  virtnons 
life  and  experience,  withont  trying  to  know  more 
by  knowing  evil  also.  But  it  was  nevertheless  a 
burden  to  them  to  keep  up  a  perpetual  protest  and 
fight  against  these  mischievous  teachings  and 
abominations. 

It  is  a  great  misfortune  when  leaders  and  active 
members  of  the  Church  are  not  the  right  sort  of 
people — corrupt  in  principle  and  life  and  not  to 
be  trusted.  It  makes  it  hard  for  those  who  are 
right,  true,  virtuous,  and  desirous  to  fill  out  the 
proprieties  of  Christian  life  and  devotion.  It  is 
a  great  drawback  and  hindrance.  It  gives  a  bad 
name  to  the  Church,  so  that  one  is  half  ashamed 
to  belong  to  it,  and  some  take  it  as  sufficient  ex- 
cuse for  staying  out  or  staying  away  altogether. 
It  often  becomes  a  serious  burden. 

But  Christ  does  not  fail  to  sympathize  with 
those  who  have  to  bear  it.  He  requires  of  us  to 
bear  it — not  to  run  away  from  it,  not  to  become 
indifferent  on  account  of  it,  not  to  drop  out  of 
our  places  and  our  duty  for  the  filthy  Jezebels  who 
may  be  leading  so  many  by  the  nose — but  to  stand 


158  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

firm  and  do  our  part  with  courage  and  fidelity. 
Jesus  said  to  these  better  Thyatirian  Christians, 
^^ I  will  put  upon  you  none  other  burden^  This 
means  that  one  burden  at  least  was  put  upon  them 
which  it  was  their  Christian  duty  to  bear,  and  do 
the  best  they  could  under  it  until  God's  judgment 
should  be  executed  and  their  relief  come.  And 
tlie  bearing  of  this  burden  was  that  they  were  to 
resist  the  temptation  to  float  with  the  muddy  cur- 
rent of  things  about  them,  and  cheerfully  and  un- 
flinchingly to  endure  whatever  inconvenience, 
sneers,  or  harsh  judgments  might  fall  upon  them 
for  their  non-approval  of  what  was  wrong,  and 
their  refusal  to  run  with  the  erring  into  the  same 
excesses  and  impurities. 

The  truth  is,  that  faithful  Christians  aUvays 
have  burdens  to  bear — burdens  which  sometimes 
become  very  heavy  and  disheartening.  If  they 
are  not  of  one  kind,  thev  are  of  another.  But 
we  are  not  to  give  up  on  account  of  them.  The 
nets  are  always  breaking  and  the  ships  are  always 
sinking,  but  as  long  as  Jesus  is  aboard  we  will 
never  go  down.  We  will  get  to  shore  some  time, 
and  not  without  an  enriching  reward  for  our  pa- 
tience and  fidelity. 

There  is  often  much  to  dishearten  us  in  our 
efforts,  to  weary  us  in  our  well-doing,  and  to  make 
us  feel  as  if  there  were  hardly  any  use  in  this  per- 
petual fight  with  the  indifference,  the  ill  temper, 


TO    THE    CIIURCtr  OF   TIIYATIRA.  1 59 

and  the  lack  or  perversion  of  Christian  spirit  on 
the  part  of  many  with  whom  our  lot  is  cast.  But 
we  must  not  give  way  on  that  account.  Our  duty 
is  to  hope  on  and  pray  on  and  work  on.  Christ  is 
with  us  in  the  struggle.  He  knows  what  hard- 
ships and  discouragements  are  upon  us.  He  sym- 
pathizes with  us,  and  while  struggling  with  one 
burden  He  will  not  allow  others  to  come,  and  will 
not  permit  us  to  be  tried  beyond  what  we  are  able 
to  bear.  The  Jezebels  and  false  ones  will  not  pre- 
vail perpetually.  The  great  Lord  has  His  search- 
ing eye  upon  them,  and  His  judgment  will  reach 
them  in  due  time  if  they  repent  not.  We  cannot 
improve  things  by  becoming  unfaithful  ourselves. 
And  hence  the  words  of  the  Psalmist:  "  Fret  not 
thyself  because  of  evil-doers,  neither  be  thou  en- 
vious against  the  workers  of  iniquity;  for  they 
shall  soon  be  cut  down  like  the  grass,  and  wither 
as  the  green  herb.  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do 
good,  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily 
thou  shalt  be  fed.  Delight  thyself  also  in  the 
Lord,  and  He  shall  give  thee  the  desires  of  thine 
heart.  ...  1  have  seen  the  wicked  in  great  pow- 
er, and  spreading  himself  like  a  green  bay  tree; 
yet  he  passed  away,  and,  lo,  he  was  not:  yea,  I 
sought  him,  but  he  could  not  be  found.  Mark 
the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright;  for  the 
end  of  that  man  is  peace." 


Hecturc  Etnti), 

Rev.  2  :  25-29 :  "  But  that  which  ye  have  already,  hold  fast  till  1 
come.  And  he  that  overcometh,  and  keepeth  my  works  unto  the  end, 
to  him  will  I  give  power  over  the  nations  :  (and  he  shall  rule  them 
with  a  rod  of  iron ;  as  the  vessels  of  a  potter  shall  they  be  broken  to 
shivers  :)  even  as  I  received  of  my  Father.  And  I  will  give  him  the 
morning-star.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith 
unto  the  churches." 

IHB  Saviour  is  still  addressing  the  few 
faithful  Christians  in  Thyatira.  It  is 
plain,  however,  that  the  words  are  meant 
for  the  whole  Church  of  all  time.  It  is  not  pos- 
sible that  power  to  rule  the  whole  world  and  dash 
nations  to  pieces,  and  the  possession  of  the  morn- 
ing star  should  pertain  exclusively  to  these  few 
Christians  in  that  one  ill-conditioned  church. 
Besides,  there  is  here  an  admonition  to  hold  fast 
////  Christ  comes.  This  seems  quite  incongruous 
as  a  direction  to  a  congregation  that  the  Lord 
knew  would  become  extinct  long  ages  before  His 
coming,  though  very  suitable  as  addressed  to  the 
whole  Church,  whose  business  it  is  to  keep  itself 
in  continual  waiting  from  age  to  age  until  He 
does  come.  And  so  also  the  concluding  admo- 
nition designates  what  is  here  addressed  to  the 

160 


rO    THE    CHURCH   Of   THYAT/KA.  l6l 

Thyatirians  as  addressed  "to  the  c /lurches ^^ — not 
to  the  few  people  of  one  cliurcli  alone,  but  to  the 
universal  Church  of  all  time.  So  we  are  likewise 
driven  to  conclude,  since  every  one  that  has  ears 
to  hear  is  admonished  to  give  attention  to  it. 
These  words  are  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  the 
Saviour's  words  to  iis  as  well  as  to  these  Thya- 
tirians. 

The  passage  consists  of  two  leading  sections, 
with  the  second  coming  of  Christ  as  the  point  of 
separation  between  them.  The  first  section  re- 
lates to  time  this  side  of  the  second  advent,  and 
the  second  section  relates  to  time  beyond  the  sec- 
ond advent.  The  one  gives  a  chapter  of  things 
to  be  accomplished  in  the  present  earthly  life,  and 
the  other  gives  a  chapter  of  promises  to  be  ful- 
filled in  the  period  following  Christ's  return. 

Notice,  then — 

I.    The  requirements  respecting  this  zvorld. 

This  faithful  remnant  in  Thyatira  had  done  ex- 
ceedinolv  well  for  their  circumstances.  Their  act- 
ivity,  their  charity,  their  services,  their  fidelity, 
their  patience,  their  endurance,  and  their  keeping 
of  themselves  from  the  base  debaucheries  of  know- 
ing "the  depths  of  Satan,"  were  favorably  no- 
ticed by  the  Saviour,  and  His  sympathies  were 
with  them  in  the  burdens  that  were  upon  them. 
So  far,  so  good.      But  matters   were  not  to  end 

here.      Probation  was  not  }'et  over,  and  they  were 
11 


1 62  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

to  see  to  their  after-life  with  the  same  devotion 
and  diligence  which  the}'  had  given  in  the  days 
preceding.  We  are  never  done  working,  watch- 
ing, praying,  and  achieving  as  long  as  we  are  in 
this  world. 

I.  They  were  to  hold  fast  what  they  had.  They 
had  the  word  and  ordinances  of  God.  And  these 
are  ver}-  great  things  to  have.  These  made  them 
Christians,  and  gave  them  their  hopes,  and  had 
brought  them  to  the  activities,  affections,  and  at- 
tainments which  commended  them  to  Christ's 
favorable  regard. 

We  sometimes  forget  how  much  we  owe  to  the 
Bible  and  those  Christian  institutes  and  teachings 
which  have  made  our  lot  so  blessedly  different 
from  that  of  the  heathen.  It  is  a  great  thing  to 
have  the  Gospel  ever  sounding  in  our  ears;  to 
have  ministers  to  teach  it;  to  have  Christian 
influences  around  us  to  condition  our  homes, 
temper  our  laws,  and  influence  the  habits  and 
character  of  the  community  in  which  we  live;  to 
have  the  means  of  grace  by  which  to  come  into 
fellowship  and  communion  with  our  Saviour  and 
our  good  Father  in  heaven;  to  have  a  throne  of 
grace  to  go  to  in  our  wants,  troubles,  and  trials, 
and  a  blessed  heaven  to  look  for  as  we  are  com- 
pelled to  lay  us  down  to  die.  These  are  not  mat- 
ters of  course.  They  are  what  we  have  received 
from  the  Gospel  which  our  fathers  have  handed 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF   TJ/VA/IR.t.  1 63 

down  to  us.  But  for  the  ^ood  providence  and 
grace  of  God  in  bringing  them  to  us,  and  causing 
us  to  believe  in  Jesus  and  His  word,  we  would  not 
have  them  to  bless  and  comfort  us  in  our  earthly 
pilgrimage  as  they  do.  Nor  is  there  anything  on 
earth  that  could  compensate  for  the  loss  of  them. 
To  hold  them  fast,  and  to  find  our  chief  treasure 
and  consolation  in  them,  are  ever  our  highest 
privilege  and  Christian  duty.  Hence  the  word  to 
these  Thyatirian  Christians  to  hold  fast  what  they 
had. 

To  let  go  of  the  Gospel  is  to  let  go  of  every- 
thing. To  become  indifferent  to  the  word  and 
sacraments  of  Christ  is  to  let  all  the  great  things 
of  our  salvation  go  by  def^udt.  We  must  be  faith- 
ful in  our  adherence  to  them  and  in  our  endeavors 
to  transmit  them  in  their  purity  to  the  generations 
that  come  after  us,  even  until  Christ  Himself  shall 
come. 

2.  These  people  were  to  maintain  the  conflict 
unto  victory.  Christian  life  is  a  perpetual  war 
and  strife  with  the  evil  that  is  in  us,  with  the  sins 
that  beset  us,  with  the  influences  and  temptations 
of  the  world  around  us,  with  the  errors  that 
abound  in  the  Church  and  all  about  us,  and  with 
the  ills  and  trials  of  this  life.  Satan  is  ever  act- 
ive in  all  these  things,  and  we  are  in  constant 
danger  of  losing  our  faith  and  of  being  drawn 
aside  from  the  paths  of  righteousness.     Therefore 


164  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

we  have  to  be  always  on  the  alert,  and  ever  stir- 
ring ourselves  up  afresh  to  the  utmost  fidelity  and 
effort,  that  we  may  not  be  overcome  of  evil  and 
come  off  conquerors  in  the  end.  Heavy  as  the 
warfare  may  be,  we  must  keep  it  up;  never  suffer 
our  interest  or  our  energies  to  flag,  nor  think  of 
giving  up  the  fight  until  the  final  victory  is  won. 
For  only  unto  them  that  overcome,  being  faithful 
to  the  end,  is  the  promise  given. 

These  people  had  a  hard  time  of  it  to  maintain 
their  Christian  character.  They  were  in  the  midst 
of  a  world  of  enthroned  heathenism  and  corrup- 
tion. The  church  to  which  they  belonged  was 
full  of  false  teachings  and  debauching  error.  All 
the  tendencies  of  society  were  adverse  to  faith  and 
purity.  But  this  was  not  to  discourage  them. 
They  were  to  be  all  the  more  inflexible  and  de- 
termined because  their  situation  was  unfavorable, 
and  to  fight  the  harder  because  the  enemy  was  so 
strong.  Victory  would  come  if  only  they  pressed 
on  to  it  with  proper  courage  and  vigor.  And  to 
this  they  were  to  give  and  keep  themselves,  with 
their  eyes  constantly  on  the  goal  that  was  held 
out  to  them. 

3.  Furthermore,  they  were  to  keep  Christ's 
works  unto  the  end.  Christ's  works  are  the  true 
Christian  works  over  against  the  false  ways  and 
wicked  doings  of  Jezebel  and  those  who  fall  into 
her  snares  and  seductive  devices  and  teachings. 


TO    THE    CHUKCH  OF   TIIYATIRA.  1 65 

The  works  of  these  heretics  were  works  of  the 
flesh  and  works  of  the  devil — works  contrary  to 
Christ  and  His  teachings.  Christ's  works  are  the 
works  of  tlie  Spirit — devotion  to  the  faith,  love, 
purity,  and  the  deeds  of  charity — keeping  to  that 
''  wisdom  which  is  from  above,  which  is  first  pure, 
then  peaceable,  gentle,  easy  to  be  entreated,  full 
of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without  partiality  and 
without  hypocrisy."  Having  embraced  Christ  as 
the  foundation  of  their  confidence  and  hope,  they 
were  to  build  up  upon  it  the  structure  of  a  good 
and  active  life — not  wood,  hay,  and  stubble,  which 
could  not  endure  the  test  of  judgment,  but  gold, 
silver,  and  precious  stones — that  they  might  have 
praise  and  gain  when  they  came  to  answer  in  the 
final  account.  No  mere  works,  however  good  and 
excellent,  can  ever  avail  to  save  us  unless  they  be 
built  on  Christ  as  the  great  Foundation ;  but,  built 
on  Him  and  in  obedience  to  His  word.  He  accepts 
them  as  His  works,  and  if  persevered  in  to  the 
end  they  bring  to  us  great  recompense  of  reward. 
Hence  all  the  sublime  honors  promised  to  these 
people  were  conditioned  on  their  keeping  of 
Christ's  works  and  their  faithful  continuance  in 
them  unto  the  end. 

These  three  things,  then,  constitute  the  great 
calling  and  duty  of  Christians  in  this  life.  What 
we  have  in  and  through  Christ  by  faith  in  Him 
we  must  hold  fast  till  He  comes.     The  conflict 


1 66  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

with  depravity  and  sin  we  must  maintain  unto 
final  victory.  And  the  works  of  Christ  we  must 
keep  unto  the  end.  To  this  we  are  called  by  the 
Gospel,  and  by  this  means  alone  can  we  come  to 
the  possession  of  the  glorious  things  which  are 
here  held  out  to  the  faithful. 

And  to  this  we  have  ample  incentives.  The 
hardships,  strife,  and  struggle  will  not  continue 
always.  The  grand  promise  is  that  the  Saviour 
will  soon  come  again  and  make  an  utter  end  of 
this  mixture  of  good  and  evil  and  this  constant 
turmoil  and  conflict  between  the  two.  If  we 
should  die  before  that  time,  it  will  make  no  dif- 
ference. We  will  then  rest  from  our  labors,  and 
the  resurrection  will  find  us  the  same  as  if  still 
living  at  the  time.  That  coming  is  the  great 
crowning-point  and  consummation  of  our  destiny. 
Whether  it  should  be  in  our  lifetime  or  not  till 
long  after  we  have  passed  away  from  the  cares 
and  activities  of  this  present  world,  on  that  the 
Saviour  would  have  us  keep  our  eye  fixed,  and  to 
live  and  look  and  wait  for  it  as  the  time  when  He 
proposes  to  terminate  all  our  disabilities  and  to 
fulfil  to  His  faithful  people  all  His  grand  prom- 
ises. Here  we  have  only  duties,  trials,  hopes; 
but  when  that  point  in  the  divine  administrations 
is  reached,  then  hope  will  become  fruition,  and 
eternal  rewards  will  take  the  place  of  conflicts 
and  toils.     Quite  another  order  of  things  shall 


TO    rilE   CHURCH   OF  THYATIRA.  1 67 

then  be  introduced,  and  quite  another  state  of 
affairs  will  come  into  play. 

Notice,  then — 

II.    The  promises  respecting  that  world  to  come. 

Our  toiling,  striving,  and  working  in  this  world 
are  not  to  be  in  vain.  There  is  full  compensation 
for  them  soon  to  be  realized.  Our  best  endeavors 
here  may  seem  to  be  wasted.  Very  little  gain  or 
fruit  may  we  see  from  them.  We  may  often  be 
tempted  to  drop  our  hands  and  say,  ''It  is  no 
use."  Our  best  efforts  may  sometimes  appear 
as  just  so  nmcli  thrown  away.  But  it  is  not 
so.  The  word  of  our  Saviour  has  put  in  an 
effectual  bar  against  all  such  feelings  and 
thoughts.  He  knows  how  prone  we  are  to  be- 
come desponding,  discouraged,  and  faint,  and 
therefore  He  has  put  before  us  the  grandest 
assurances  that  heart  can  conceive. 

I.  First  of  all,  our  salvation  will  be  secure. 
By  fulfilling  the  inculcations  laid  upon  us  we 
will  share  the  victory  and  triumph  of  Christ 
Himself  As  He  bore  our  sins  in  His  own  body 
on  the  tree,  and  there  received  upon  Himself  the 
full  penalty  due  to  them,  they  shall  no  more  hold 
against  us.  Cancelled  in  His  blood,  they  are 
done  away,  blotted  out,  exscinded  for  ever.  His 
death  and  resurrection,  sealed  to  us  in  our  bap- 
tism, is  a  receipt  in  full  against  themx.  All  judg- 
ment for  them  is  j)ast,  and  we  stand  justified  as 


1 68  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

though  they  had  never  been.  Having  conquered 
death  and  come  out  from  under  it  in  the  powers 
of  an  endless  life,  death  is  no  longer  any  harm  to 
us.  It  can  only  end  our  labors,  aches,  and  sor- 
rows here,  while  beyond  are  resurrection  and  life 
more  exalted  and  glorious  than  if  death  had  never 
been.  Because  our  Saviour  died  for  us,  and  is 
alive  as  the  Lord  and  Master  of  death  and  hell, 
we  shall  live  also,  undamaged  by  their  power. 
In  a  word,  we  shall  be  saz'ed,  all  dangers  past, 
all  troubles  over,  all  disabilities  of  our  fallen 
condition  reversed  and  gone.  This  in  itself 
would  be  quite  enough  to  compensate  for  all 
the  costs  and  efforts  of  a  godly  life.  But,  great 
and  transcendent  as  it  is,  it  is  only  the  substratum 
and  lower  plane  of  what  is  held  out  to  the  faith- 
ful child  of  God. 

2.  A  sublime  office  and  authority  will  be  con- 
ferred: "He  that  overcometh,  and  keepeth  My 
works  unto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  power 
over  the  nations;  and  he  shall  rule  [shepherdize] 
them  with  a  sceptre  of  iron;  as  the  vessels  of  a 
potter  shall  they  be  broken  to  shivers,  even  as  I 
received  from  My  Father." 

What  a  promise  is  this!  Who  could  ever  have 
thought  of  such  a  thing  as  that  the  poor,  despised, 
and  suffering  children  of  God  should  rise  to  the 
dio-nitv  and  grlorv  of  invincible  lords  over  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  ?     Nay,   with   the  words  of 


TO    '11  IE    CIIL'RCII  OF   TIIYATIRA.  169 

Christ  here  and  elsewhere  so  clear  and  positive 
before  us,  how  few  Christians  rise  to  anything  of 
even  a  faint  conception  of  the  transcendent  prom- 
ise! But  thev  are  Christ's  words,  and  tliev  mean 
what  they  say,  and  they  are  unmistakably  true. 

Ivook  at  the  presentations  on  this  point:  "Do 
ye  not  know  that  the  saints  shall  judge  the 
world?"  Does  not  the  Psalmist  tell  of  a  com- 
ing morning,  even  the  morning  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, when  "the  upright  shall  have  dominion 
over  the  dwellers  in  the  earth"?  Does  he  not 
tell,  again  and  again,  of  a  time  when  it  shall  be 
the  high  honor  of  all  God's  saints  to  wield  the 
sword  of  double  edge,  to  execute  vengeance  on 
the  heathen  and  punishments  on  the  people,  to 
bind  their  kings  with  chains  and  their  nobles 
with  fetters  of  iron — to  execute  upon  them  the 
judgment  written  ?  (Ps.  149 :  5-9).  Is  it  not  de- 
clared in  Daniel  that  the  saints  of  the  Most  High 
shall  take  the  kingdom,  and  that  the  kingdom 
and  dominion,  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom 
under  the  whole  heaven,  shall  be  given  to  the 
people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  whose 
kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  all  do- 
minions shall  serve  and  obey  Him?  (Dan.  7  :  18, 
27).  Did  not  the  Saviour  say  to  Peter  that  "in 
the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit 
in  the  throne  of  His  glory,"  they  which  have  fol- 
lowed Him  shall  sit  upon  thrones  of  judgment? 


170  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

(Matt.  19  :  28).  Ill  John's  visions  of  what  is  here- 
after to  come  to  pass  has  he  not  told  us  of  a  mul- 
titudinous Man-child  whom  the  dragon  sought  to 
devour,  caught  up  unto  God  and  His  throne  to 
rule  [shepherdize]  the  nations  with  a  rod  of  iron? 
(Rev.  12:5).  Did  he  not  see  thrones,  and  God's 
faithful  ones  who  share  in  the  first  resurrection 
seated  upon  them,  and  reigning  with  Christ  as 
His  king-priests,  very  "kings  of  the  earth,"  who 
bring  their  glory  and  honor  into  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem,  in  the  light  of  which  the  saved  na- 
tions then  living  are  to  walk?  (Rev.  20:4-6; 
21  :  24-26)?  And  what  does  all  this  mean  but 
exactly  what  the  Saviour  tells  us  in  the  text? 

Dear  friends,  I  am  sure  that  the  Church  does 
not  half  see  or  believe  the  transcendent  things 
which  God  has  arranged  and  decreed  concerning 
them  that  love  Him  and  do  His  commandments. 
We  talk  of  being  saved — if  only  we  are  saved — 
while  Jesus  is  talking  of  lordships,  princedoms, 
regencies,  and  eternal  authority  and  dominion. 

The  promise  now  under  consideration  connects 
directly  with  the  second  Psalm.  We  are  there 
told  of  the  decree  and  appointment  of  the  eternal 
Father  constituting  His  only-begotten  Son  the 
absolute  King  and  Sovereign  of  the  world,  whom 
the  kings  of  the  earth  and  its  rulers  shall  with- 
stand and  resist,  but  whom  He  will  one  day  re- 
buke and  vex  and  break  with  a  sceptre  of  iron, 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  171 

dashing  the  rebellious  to  pieces  like  a  vessel  of 
pottery,  and  subjecting  the  nations  unto  Himself 
as  His  inheritance  and  possession.  It  is  to  this  the 
Saviour  here  alludes  in  speaking  of  what  He  has 
received  of  His  Father.  And  in  the  execution 
of  these  His  judgment  administrations,  and  the 
subjugation  of  the  nations  by  His  invincible 
power  to  His  rule  and  government,  He  here 
engages  to  give  His  victorious  people  a  part  and 
share,  eveii  as  He  has  received  from  His  Father. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  earth  is  to  be 
annihilated  and  cease  to  be,  or  that  it  is  ever  to  be 
denuded  of  its  population.  God  made  it  to  be  in- 
habited, and  placed  man  upon  it  to  multiply,  re- 
plenish, and  subdue  it.  Hence  we  read  of  gene- 
rations and  generations  world  without  end.  "The 
end  of  the  world  "  that  we  hear  of  is  not  the  end 
of  the  earth  or  the  end  of  generations  on  the  earth, 
but  only  the  end  of  the  present  order  of  things  on 
the  earth,  the  end  of  the  present  age  and  fashion 
of  the  world,  the  turning  of  man's  day  into  the 
day  of  the  Lord,  and  of  man's  mortal  rule  into  the 
immortal  dominion  of  Christ  and  His  saints.  That 
change  comes  when  Christ  comes  again,  when  He 
will  gather  His  people,  whether  dead  or  alive,  to 
be  with  Him  and  to  share  in  the  work  of  judging 
the  wicked  world  and  forciblv  reducing^  the  rebel- 
lions  nations  into  subjection  to  their  rightful  Sov- 
ereign, even  to  Christ.     iVnd  this  judging,  shep- 


172  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

herdizing,  and  subduing  of  the  nations  by  an 
invincible  rule  or  sceptre  which  must  break  and 
destroy  all  who  resist  it,  is  here  the  subject  of  the 
Saviour's  promise  to  the  victors  wdio  now  keep 
His  works  unto  the  end.      Nor  is  this  all. 

3.  The  further  promise  here  is  to  him  that  over- 
cometh  and  keepeth  Christ's  works  unto  the  end: 
''''And  I IV  ill  give  him  the  nwrjiing  stai^.'''' 

But  what  new  and  strange  proposal  have  we 
here?  What  means  this  morning  star?  Great 
kings  and  mighty  rulers  are  called  stars,  and  so 
are  prophets  and  ministers  of  the  Church;  but 
this  is  a  peculiar  star  and  of  pre-eminent  bril- 
liancy and  distinction — the  star  that  leads  the 
heavenly  hosts,  shines  on  when  others  have  faded 
away,  heralds  the  dawn,  and  ushers  in  the  da}' — 
the  morning  star.  And  we  have  only  to  look  a  lit- 
tle farther  on  in  this  book  to  find  an  authorita- 
tive declaration  as  to  the  identity  of  this  star. 
Jesus  there  says,  ' '  I  am  the  Root  and  Offspring 
of  David,  and  the  bright  and  morning  Star" 
(chap.  22  :  16). 

This  star,  then,  is  Christ  Himself,  but  Christ  in 
a  particular  stage  and  department  of  His  grand 
redemptive  work — Christ  as  the  Herald  and  In- 
bringer  of  the  day  of  final  glory — Christ  in  the 
attitude,  office,  and  administrations  of  the  ending 
of  this  night  of  time  and  the  ushering  in  of  the 
fulness  of  His  triumph  and  kingdom. 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF   THYATIRA.  1 73 

Christ  gives  Himself  to  His  people  now.  He 
is  their  chief  treasure  as  their  Sin-bearer,  their 
Teacher,  their  Forerunner,  their  Advocate  with 
the  Father,  and  their  present  and  ever-sympa- 
thizing Friend — the  Captain  of  our  salvation;  but 
then  He  engages  to  give  Himself  to  them  as  some- 
thing transcendently  more,  even  as  the  forthcom- 
ing Sovereign  of  the  world,  the  Breaker  of  Satan's 
rule,  the  Destroyer  of  Antichrist,  the  omnipotent 
Subjugator  of  the  nations  to  His  dominion. 

It  is  nifrht  now,  but  there  is  a  mornino:  comin<»- 
— the  morning  of  resurrection,  the  morning  pre- 
ceding the  noon  of  final  glor\',  the  morning  when 
deliverance  is  to  come  to  the  Church  and  the  up- 
right enter  upon  dominion.  And  the  Star  of  that 
morning,  as  of  all  other  blessed  mornings,  is  Jesus. 
He  is  its  light,  its  glory,  its  joy,  the  Herald  and 
Bringer  of  all  that  makes  it  glad.  As  Balaam  saw 
Him  from  afar,  He  then  shall  appear  as  the  Star 
out  of  Jacob,  armed  with  a  sceptre  to  smite  the 
four  corners  of  Moab  and  to  destroy  all  the  chil- 
dren of  the  wicked  one,  even  as  the  King  higher 
than  Agag,  stronger  than  the  aurochs,  and  invin- 
cible as  the  devouring  lion.  As  He  Himself  has 
said,  "Then  shall  the  Son  of  man  sit  in  the 
throne  of  His  glory,  and  before  Him  shall  be 
gathered  all  nations" — "When  He  shall  come 
to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,  and  to  be  admired 
in  all  them  that  believe."     And  Himself,  as  He 


174  thb:  letters  oe  jesus. 

then  shall  come  forth  in  His  imperial  majesty, 
does  He  here  promise  to  give  to  every  victor  who 
keeps  His  works  nnto  the  end. 

Wonderful  promise !  Behold  the  crowned  el- 
ders on  their  golden  seats  round  about  the  throne 
flashing  with  the  symbols  of  the  divine  majesty, 
and  the  living  ones  six-winged  and  full  of  eyes 
conjoined  with  the  throne  and  sharing  in  its 
awfulness  of  glory — all  as  seen  in  the  vision  of 
John,  and  you  have  these  blessed  victors  in  the 
possession  of  "the  morning  star."  Our  hearts 
tremble  at  the  blaze  of  glory,  dignity,  authority, 
and  power  which  shines  forth  in  the  description. 
And  to  have  it  in  blessed  fruition  as  our  own  is 
what  the  Saviour  here  promises  when  He  says  to 
every  finally  victorious  Christian,  ' '  and  I  ivill 
give  him  the  morning  star.^^ 

Said  I  not  right,  dear  friends,  that  our  Chris- 
tian toiling,  striving,  and  working  in  this  ill 
world  are  not  in  vain?  Is  there  not  in  the  real- 
ization of  all  this  an  overwhelming  ampleness 
of  recompense  for  all  that  our  devotion  and  fidel- 
ity may  cost  us  during  these  few  fleeting  years? 
What  more  could  we  ask  or  think  than  is  here 
pledged  to  us  by  our  blessed  Lord  if  we  but  keep 
His  works  unto  the  end?  With  such  prospects 
ahead  in  the  near  future,  and  Christ's  own  word 
as  our  security  for  their  attainment,  and  His  res- 
urrection as  their  indubitable  seal,  what  is  there 


TO    THE    CHURCH    OF    THY  ATI  RA.  1 75 

ill  all  the  discipline,  duties,  hardships,  discourage- 
ments, and  adversities  attending  a  life  of  faithful- 
ness to  God  to  be  for  one  nioiiient  considered  over 
against  such  a  recompense  of  reward?  Well 
might  we  be  called  on  to  rejoice  and  be  exceed- 
ing glad  amid  reviling  and  persecution  and  all 
the  ills  that  can  befall  us  for  our  Christian  faith; 
for  great  indeed  is  our  reward  in  heaven. 

Let  us,  then,  be  stirred  up  by  these  precious 
words  of  our  Saviour  to  hold  fast  His  truth  and 
our  profession,  to  keep  diligently  to  our  places 
and  our  duties  as  His  called  and  chosen  ones,  to 
bear  willingly  whatever  burdens  His  providence 
may  lay  upon  us  in  this  w^orld,  to  endure  hard- 
ship as  good  soldiers  of  the  cross,  and  to  set  our- 
selves with  unflagging  constancy  to  keep  His 
works  unto  the  end,  that  we  may  come  off  more 
than  conquerors  through  Him  who  loves  us  and 
washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood  and 
engages  to  make  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God. 

And  if  any  one  hath  an  ear  to  hear,  let  him 
not  fail  to  hear,  and  take  earnestly  home  to  his 
soul,  what  the  Spirit  saitli  unto  the  churches. 


Hecture  ffilebeiirij. 

Rev.  3  :  1-3  :  "And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Sardis  write  : 
These  things  saith  he  that  liath  the  seven  Spirits  of  God,  and  the  seven 
stai-s :  I  Ivuow  tliy  works,  that  thou  hast  a  name  that  tliou  hvest,  and 
art  dead.  Be  watchful,  and  strengthen  the  things  which  remain,  that 
are  ready  to  die:  for  I  liave  not  found  thy  works  perfect  before  God. 
Rememl^er,  therefore,  how  thou  hast  received  and  heard,  and  hold 
fast,  and  repent.  If,  tlierefore,  thou  shalt  not  watch,  I  will  come  on 
thee  as  a  thief,  and  thou  shalt  not  know  what  liour  I  will  come  upon 
thee." 

HE  city  of  Sardis  was  once  among  the 
noblest  of  the  East.  Its  situation  and 
its  climate  were  exceptionally  fine.  It 
had  excellent  mountains  and  was  washed  by  a 
river  famous  for  its  golden  sands.  It  was  the 
capital  city  of  the  kingdom  over  which  Crcesus 
reigned,  whose  name  has  been  the  symbol  of 
riches  ever  since  his  time.  It  had  a  temple  as 
renowned  as  that  of  Ephesus,  and  far  more  an- 
cient. It  had  a  palace  of  gorgeous  magnificence. 
It  was  a  centre  of  wise  men  as  well  as  rich  men, 
and  numbered  Thales,  Cleobulus,  and  Solon  among 
its  inhabitants.  Full  in  sight  were  the  gigantic 
tiumdi  of  the  Lydian  monarchs,  and  around  them 
spread  the  plains  where  Xerxes  massed  his  niam- 

176 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARD  IS.  1 77 

moth  forces  when  he  went  forth  for  the  snbjuga- 
tion  of  Greece.  And  scarce  was  there  another 
spot  on  earth  with  which  more  varied  and  more 
vivid  remembrances  are  associated. 

But,  though  connecting  with  a  number  of  the 
greatest  names  in  histor\',  and  a  place  of  great 
importance  under  various  empires  for  ahnost  two 
thousand  years,  successive  sieges,  sudden  surprises, 
earthquakes,  and  conflgrations,  and  the  changing 
vicissitudes  in  earthly  affairs  have  long  since  re- 
duced it  to  a  perfect  desolation,  with  nothing  left 
but  a  few  paltry  huts,  the  fanes  of  dead  religions, 
the  tombs  of  forgotten  monarchs,  and  a  few  scat- 
tered ruins,  with  the  wild  trees  growing  in  the 
banquet-halls  of  its  former  kings.  And  as  it 
went  with  Sardis,  so  has  it  gone  with  the  church 
of  that  city. 

By  whose  ministry  or  b\'  what  special  provi- 
dence this  church  was  founded  we  are  nowhere 
told.  The  ruins  of  a  Christian  edifice  have  been 
identified  as  the  church  of  St.  John,  and  he  per- 
haps was  the  man  wdio  first  planted  Christianity 
there.  The  only  name  historically  associated 
with  the  church  of  Sardis  is  that  of  Melito,  who 
was  its  bishop  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century.  But  there  is  everything  to  beget  the 
belief  that  it  was  a  church  of  distinguished 
prominence.     The    character   of    the   place,    the 

wealth  of  the  people,  and  the  fact  noted  by  the 
12 


178  THE  LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

Saviour  that  it  had  a  name  to  live  warrant  the 
conclusion  that  it  was  regarded  as  a  model  church 
and  one  in  high  esteem  by  the  other  churches  in 
Asia  Minor.  Whatever  its  inner  character  may 
have  been,  it  had  a  name  and  fame  at  least  in  its 
outer  manifestations  of  Christian  life,  enterprise, 
and  strength.  And  to  this  church  the  Saviour 
now  comes  to  give  His  estimate  and  judgment, 
both  for  its  learning  and  for  ours  as  well. 

I.   Notice  in  zvhat  attititde  He  presents  Himself. 

"These  thinQfs  saitli   He  that  hath  the  seven 
Spirits  of  God  and  the  seven  stars." 

A  very  important  and  very  delightful  truth  here 
comes  to  our  contemplation.  Whatever  the  need 
of  the  Church  may  be,  there  is  everything  in 
Christ  to  meet  the  want.  He  has  ' '  tJie  seven 
spirits  of  God^^  —  that  is,  all  the  plenitude  and 
ampleness  of  the  Holy  Ghost — for  the  illumina- 
tion, quickening,  sanctification,  and  abundant 
help  of  all  His  people.  If  they  are  in  darkness. 
He  has  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit  to  enlighten 
them.  If  their  life  is  feeble,  their  faith  weak, 
their  devotion  cold,  He  is  possessed  of  the  power 
and  grace  to  revive  them  and  bring  them  to  new 
spiritual  vigor.  And,  whatever  their  infirmities 
may  be,  they  have  only  to  look  and  apply  to  Him 
and  the  requisite  help  is  at  hand.  For  He  has 
"the  seven  spirits  of  God." 

Men  have  debated  whether  the  Holy  Spirit  pro- 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  SARDIS.  1 79 

ceeds  only  from  the  Father,  or,  as  we  confess, 
"from  the  Father  and  the  Son.^^  Christ's  own 
word  as  here  spoken  shonld  settle  that  qnestion. 
"The  seven  Spirits  of  God"  are  the  plenary  and 
manifold  fulness  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and,  as  Jesus 
claims  to  have  these,  and  has  them  to  impart.  He 
must  be  God,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  issues  from  Him 
the  same  as  from  the  Father.  Certainly  we  have 
in  Him  all  power  and  grace  to  help  in  every  time 
of  need. 

Great  and  manifold  are  the  offices  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  He  is  called  the  Paraclete ;  and  a  para- 
clete is  an  instructor,  witness,  monitor,  helper, 
guide,  and  comforter.  The  giving  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  an  endowment  with  power  from  on  high 
— the  gift  of  a  divine  presence  to  quicken,  ener- 
gize, establish,  equip,  lead,  and  prosper  in  all 
sacred  experiences  and  activities.  There  is  noth- 
ing that  we  more  need,  or  that  the  Church  more 
needs  to  keep  it  alive  in  faith  and  good  works,  to 
give  it  efficiency,  consolation,  spirituality,  and  joy, 
than  such  a  Paraclete.  But  for  all  these  offices 
Jesus  has  and  sends  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  gives 
Him  'to  all  them  that  ask  Him  and  submit  them- 
selves to  His  word;  for  He  is  able  to  save  them  to 
the  uttermost  who  come  unto  God  through  Him. 

Furthermore,  with  the  seven  spirits  of  God  He 
has  also  ' '  the  seven  stars. "  "  The  seven  stars 
are  the  ministers  of  the  seven  churches. ' '     This 


l8o  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

means  that  He  has  instituted  the  ministry,  that 
He  calls  men  into  it,  that  He  owns  them  and  their 
ministrations  as  part  of  the  holy  organism  by 
which  He  dispenses  life  and  salvation.  They  are 
His  ambassadors.  By  them  He  speaks.  Dealing 
with  them  in  their  holy  office  is  dealing  with  Je- 
sus. They  have  no  right  to  go  beyond  His  w^ord 
or  to  do  in  His  name  what  He  has  not  commanded. 
They  are  His;  He  owns  them  and  provides  them 
for  His  Church,  and  He  holds  them  to  strict  ac- 
count for  the  manner  in  which  they  discharge  the 
duties  of  their  high  office.  No  minister  is  in  an}' 
respect  independent  of  Christ,  and  no  church  is 
independent  of  the  ministry  Christ  has  constituted 
for  its  service.  If  a  church  has  a  good  and  faith- 
ful minister,  Christ  has  sent  him  and  made  him 
what  he  is,  and  will  never  cease  to  qualify  and 
send  faithful  ministers  into  His  churches  if  people 
will  look  to  Him  for  them  and  profit  as  they 
should  by  the  ministrations  of  those  whom  He 
sends. 

And  it  is  also  a  great  and  comforting  truth  that 
Jesus  has  these  stars,  equips  them  for  their  places, 
sends  them  to  serve  His  flock,  holds  and  controls 
them  for  the  supply  of  His  Church's  needs.  Hence 
also  He  charges  all  His  people  to  pray  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  to  send  forth  laborers  into  His  harvest. 
They  are  also  worth  praying  for,  for  how  shall 
men  hear  without  a  preacher  ?  and  how  shall  they 


ro    THE    CHURCH   OF  SARD  IS.  l8l 

preach  except  the)'  be  sent?  A  good  and  faithful 
minister  is  indeed  a  star  in  Christ's  right  hand — a 
liirht-bearer  and  lioht-oiver  to  the  children  of 
men. 

Thus,  then,  as  the  possessor  of  all  the  powers 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the  ministry  appointed 
for  the  Church,  Jesus  here  speaks  to  the  church 
in  Sardis. 

2.   Notice  7vhat  He  finds  in  tJiis  cJiiircJi. 

Nothing  was  hid  from  Him.  He  needed  not 
that  any  one  should  tell  or  testify  as  to  the  state 
of  things.  His  eye  searches  the  hearts  of  all  His 
people.  He  knows  their  works  and  all  that  per- 
tains to  their  condition.  He  understands  every 
one  of  us  through  and  through — all  that  we  are, 
all  that  we  do,  all  that  we  think,  and  everything 
concerning  us.  And  His  judgments  are  infal- 
lible. 

He  saw  in  this  church  in  Sardis  that  it  had  a 
name,  a  good  reputation,  and  was  credited  with  a 
great  deal  of  activity  and  life.  Perhaps  it  had 
much  wealth.  Perhaps  it  was  very  liberal  in  its 
contributions  for  the  general  cause.  At  any  rate, 
it  had  a  name  for  being  a  live  church.  No  fault 
is  found  w^itli  its  orthodoxy.  It  is  not  censured  as 
giving  place  to  false  teachers  or  harboring  false 
and  unworthy  members.  It  seems  to  have  been 
orderly,  peaceful,  respectable,  and  outwardly  in- 
fluential.    And    if  everything  had   corresponded 


l82  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

with  its  reputation  and  the  outward  appearances, 
it  would  have  been  perhaps  the  completest  and 
most  honorable  of  the  seven. 

But  things  are  not  always  what  they  seem  or 
deserving  of  the  credit  which  they  receive.  While 
this  church  had  a  name  for  life,  it  was  really  to  a 
great  extent  dead.  It  was  actually  dying.  It  had 
a  reputation  for  life,  while  it  was  largely  dead  as 
to  true  spirituality.  There  was  a  reputable  form 
of  godliness,  but  it  did  not  have  the  proper  power. 
There  was  plenty  of  gentility  and  an  honorable 
external  estate,  but  there  was  much  inward  stag- 
nation, worldly  contamination,  and  spiritual  de- 
cay. There  were  a  few  who  had  not  defiled  their 
garments,  but  the  majority  partook  of  the  charac- 
ter imputed  to  the  people  of  Sardis  in  general. 
There  were  works  and  activities,  but  they  were 
much  soiled  and  not  filled  out  toward  God. 
There  was  a  weakening  in  the  power  of  faith. 
Death  was  creeping  over  the  souls  of  the  peo- 
ple. A  process  of  dying  had  set  in,  which  had 
taken  possession  of  many  and  was  extending 
more  and  more,  demanding  a  prompt  and  vigor- 
ous reformation  to  prevent  things  from  be- 
coming like  the  valley  of  dry  bones  in  Ezekiel's 
vision. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  a  more  unfortunate 
condition  for  a  church  than  to  have  a  name  to  live 
while  virtually  dead.     It  is  not  so  bad  to  be  dead 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  SARD  IS.  183 

and  to  know  it,  wearing  no  disguise  and  without 
hypocritical  show,  as  to  have  the  ghastly  skeleton 
clothed  with  a  feigned  life.  To  be  dead,  with  the 
mere  semblance  of  vitality,  is  more  disgusting  than 
to  be  laid  out  in  undisguised  death.  It  is  a  sad 
thing  to  contemplate  the  bare  possibility  of  such 
an  estate  as  having  a  name  for  life  and  yet  being 
dead.  But  such,  alas!  is  only  too  often  the  case 
with  churches  and  with  people  who  profess  to  be 
Christians.  Even  as  human  eyes  see,  instances 
of  the  kind  are  not  wanting,  and  we  have  reason 
to  suspect  that  there  are  many  more  quite  veiled 
from  human  sight  who  to  the  all-seeing  eye  of  Je- 
sus are  really  but  walking  sepulchres  in  which 
there  is  only  deadness  and  decay. 

Nor  should  we  too  confidently  turn  away  from 
the  description  as  not  possibly  applying  even  to 
ourselves.  There  may  be  orthodoxy,  and  yet  spir- 
itual death.  There  may  be  a  reputation  for  living 
devotion  and  godliness,  and  the  true  life  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  be  absent  from  the  soul.  There  is 
such  a  Ihing  as  impressing  others,  and  even  our- 
selves, with  the  idea  that  we  are  all  right  wdien 
the  hand  of  death  may  be  upon  our  whole  spirit- 
ual nature.  A  corpse  can  be  galvanized  into  the 
motions  and  mimicries  of  life  while  yet  it  is  as 
dead  as  a  stone.  And  we  all  need  to  try  ourselves 
well,  lest,  having  a  name  to  live,  we  should  yet 
be  dead. 


184  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

3.   Notice  what  Christ  demanded  of  this  people. 

Very  tender  and  gracions  is  our  Savionr,  even 
to  the  weakest  and  nnworthiest  of  His  flock. 
Wherein  they  are  not  right  He  is  anxions  to 
bring  them  right,  and  so  orders  His  providence 
and  word  that  thev  niav  become  sensible  of  their 
faulty  condition  and  have  the  opportunity  and 
means  of  recovery  before  things  have  gone  be- 
yond remedy.  We  know  how  reluctant  He  was 
to  give  up  the  rebellious  people  of  Israel,  and 
what  tears  and  lamentations  He  gave  out  over 
Jerusalem  when  He  saw  that  the  day  of  grace  was 
past  and  all  further  hope  was  gone.  With  what 
touching  pathos  have  those  words  thrilled  down 
the  centuries  from  the  side  of  Olivet! — "  O  Jeru- 
salem! Jerusalem!  thou  that  killest  the  prophets, 
and  stonest  them  that  are  sent  unto  thee!  How 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together, 
as  a  hen  gathereth  her  brood  under  her  wings;  but 
ye  would  not!"  And  with  still  more  tenderness 
is  He  moved  toward  those  of  His  own  flock  whom 
He  finds  out  of  the  way  and  ready  to*  perish. 
Therefore,  with  the  utmost  gravity,  and  yet  with 
the  most  affectionate  tenderness.  He  here  appeals 
to  these  failing  Sardians  and  to  all  in  like  condi- 
tion to  revive  and  save  them,  and  admonishes  them 
of  what  alone  can  do  away  with  the  trouble. 

First  of  all,  He  calls  upon  them  to  get  their 
eyes  open,  to  become  wakeful,  to  stir  themselves 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARD  IS.  1 85 

lip  to  watchfulness.  The  import  of  the  expres- 
sion is  precisely  that  of  Paul  to  the  Ephesians, 
where  he  says:  "Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and 
arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee 
light." 

It  appears  that  these  people  had  rocked  them- 
selves to  sleep  in  their  faith.  They  had  become 
so  self-satisfied  that  all  anxieties  were  allowed  to 
slumber.  It  was  a  sleep  that  meant  death  if  not 
aroused  from  it;  but  it  was  not  yet  so  deep  that 
there  was  no  more  hope.  And  what  they  were 
now  to  do  was  to  stir  themselves  up  to  more  wake- 
fulness, more  vigor,  more  spiritual  earnestness. 
They  were  not  out  of  danger,  but  they  were  not 
alive  to  it.  They  had  become  inert  and  drowsy 
in  religious  duty,  but  had  no  right  consciousness 
of  their  situation.  Thev  were  ijraduallv  sinkino^ 
into  a  state  of  death,  but  had  no  serious  concern 
about  it.  This  state  of  thiui^s  was  now  to  be 
broken  up,  their  anxieties  quickened,  their  flag- 
ging energies  aroused.  They  were  to  trim  afresh 
the  lamps  of  their  profession,  and  to  set  them- 
selves on  the  lookout  for  the  perils  that  impended 
over  them. 

Furthermore,  they  were  to  strengthen  what  re- 
mained and  was  readv  to  die.  Not  evervthinof 
was  yet  dead.  Their  profession  still  continued. 
Some  works  were  still  being  attended  to,  but  with 
a  spirit  so  indifferent,  heartless,  and  perfunctory 


1 86  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

as  to  be  more  dead  than  alive  and  fast  tending  to 
extinction.     Everything  needed  tonic  and  revival.  ' 
And  to  this  they  were  now  to  give  themselves. 

When  people  become  lax  and  complaining  with 
reference  to  the  Chnrch,  and  religions  duties  be- 
come irksome,  and  interest  and  spirit  in  sacred 
things  become  dull  and  secondary,  it  is  high  time 
for  them  to  bestir  themselves,  turn  over  a  new 
leaf,  and  strive  for  a  new  baptism  of  the  Spirit, 
that  what  is  thus  lame  and  weak  may  be  healed 
and  strengthened,  lest  everything  of  their  Chris- 
tian character  should  die  out.  Backsliders  must 
return,  take  hold  afresh,  set  out  with  new  vigor, 
and  stir  up  the  gift  of  God  that  is  in  them,  or  all 
their  religion  must  pass  for  nothing.  What  has 
been  done  scantily,  imperfectly,  intermittingly, 
if  not  grudgingly,  must  be  entered  upon  with  a 
new  heart,  higher  resolve,  and  more  earnest  de- 
votion, or  everything  must  fail. 

And  in  order  to  this  these  people  were  to  recur 
to  their  first  experience,  and  call  to  mind  how  it 
was  with  them  at  the  beginning.  They  were  to 
remember  how  they  had  received  and  heard;  with 
what  self-sacrifice  and  holy  unction  the  apostles 
had  preached  to  them  and  labored  among  them  in 
order  to  bring  them  to  faith  in  Christ;  with  what 
glad  devotion  they  had  grasped  hold  of  the  word 
of  promise  that  was  thus  brought  to  them;  how 
different  were  their  feelings,  zeal,  and  earnestness 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  SARD  IS.  I  87 

then  from  what  they  had  now  become;  and  by 
honest  repentance  and  fast-clinging  to  what  they 
then  so  eagerly  received  get  themselves  back  again 
to  the  same  devout  and  hopeful  condition. 

It  is  a  good  thing  for  Christians  betimes  to  re- 
member how  it  was  with  them  when  they  first  set 
out  to  be  the  servants  and  children  of  God — what 
a  lively  perception  of  duty,  and  tenderness  of 
conscience,  and  sincerity  of  endeavor,  and  com- 
pleteness of  surrender  to  Christ,  and  fulness  of 
determination  then  marked  them — that  they  may 
see  in  how  far  they  have  sunk  away  from  their 
first  love,  and  thus  move  themselves  to  do  their 
first  w^orks  over  again  and  strengthen  what  is 
ready  to  die.  The  first  in  all  these  churches  was 
the  best,  and  so  it  is  apt  to  be  with  Christians 
in  general.  -And  hence  the  Saviour's  words  are 
always  in  place,  calling  upon  us  to  remember  how 
we  received  and  heard  at  the  beginning,  and  set 
ourselves  to  hold  fast  and  repent,  and  get  our- 
selves back  again  to  our  first  love. 

4.  Glance  for  a  momoit  at  the  consideration  by 
which  the  Saviour  enforces  and  impresses  these 
demands. 

Man  is  a  reasoning  being,  and  capable  of  being 
moved  by  rational  motives.  Jesus  does  not  com- 
mand as  a  tyrant.  He  asks  and  enjoins  only  what 
is  reasonable  and  what  addresses  itself  to  our  con- 
sciences and  judgment  as  proper  and  right.     We 


1 88  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

find  ourselves  in  a  certain  condition  and  com- 
passed about  by  a  certain  order  which  is  fixed 
be>ond  our  controL  We  are  moral  beings,  and 
cannot  escape  moral  responsibility.  We  are  here 
passing  through  a  period  of  probation  with  a  view 
to  verv  exalted  promotions  and  honors.  There  is 
a  time  coming  when  this  probationary  scene  must 
end  and  the  results  of  'our  faithfulness  or  failure 
be  reached.  And,  as  Christ  has  come  and  opened 
up  to  us  a  blessed  immortalit}',  and  called  us  by 
the  Gospel  to  keep  ourselves  in  preparation  and 
readiness  for  the  revelation  of  His  glorious  king- 
dom, so  He  has  promised  to  come  again  to  receive 
all  His  faithful  ones  to  Himself  When  that  com- 
ing is  to  be  He  has  nowhere  told  us  and  no  man 
knoweth.  We  only  know  that  it  is  to  be,  that  it 
will  be  a  time  of  transcendent  blessedness  to  those 
whom  it  finds  ready  and  waiting  for  it,  and  that 
for  the  careless,  indifferent,  and  unready  it  will 
be  very  calamitous,  cutting  them  off  from  the 
honors  of  the  kingdom,  consigning  them  to  the 
trials  and  sufferings  of  the  great  tribulation  which 
shall  befall  the  wicked  world,  and  making  their 
salvation  "so  as  by  fire,"  if,  indeed,  they  are  ever 
saved  at  all.  And  this  mysterious,  eventful,  and 
impending  coming  again  of  the  lyord  Jesus  is 
what  He  here  puts  before  these  drowsy  and  dying 
Sardians  to  tone  them  up  to  life  and  duty. 

What  if  the  great  day  should  be  suddenly  pre- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARDJS.  1 89 

cipitated  upon  tlicm  in  the  condition  in  which 
the\-  then  were?  What  if  the  view  of  the  judg- 
ment-throne should  break  upon  tlieni  with  no 
better  preparation  for  it  than  having  a  name  to 
live  and  \et  being  so  deep  in  spiritual  death  ? 
What  could  the}-  expect  in  that  case  but  to  be 
"left,"  being  accounted  unworthy  to  escape  those 
tinners  then  comino-  on  the  earth  or  to  stand  be- 
fore  the  Son  of  man?  Of  what  high  and  glow- 
intr  honors  would  thev  thus  have  failed  for  ever! 
But  just  these  deplorable  calamities  does  the  Sa- 
viour put  before  these  dull,  slumbering,  and  dying 
saints  as  the  grand  moving  reason  why  they  should 
at  once  wake  up,  shake  off  their  deadness,  and 
put  themselves  in  earnest  dut)'  and  honest  w^ait- 
ing  and  watching  for  their  I^ord.  "  If  therefore 
thou  vShalt  not  become  awake  and  watchful,  I  will 
come  on  thee  as  a  thief,  and  thou  shalt  not  know 
at  what  hour  I  shall  come  upon  thee."  That  is 
to  say,  all  sleepy  and  un watchful  people  shall  be 
taken  by  surprise;  the  decisive  hour  will  come 
upon  them  unawares,  and  the  result  shall  be  the 
loss  of  those  dignities  and  honors  to  which  all 
hearers  of  the  Gospel  are  now  called. 

Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  Scriptures  more 
constantly  used  by  the  Holy  Ghost  or  better  fitted 
to  stir  up  sleepy  Christians  to  their  duty,  or  to 
tone  up  decaying  piety,  than  this  doctrine  of  the 
coming  again  of  Christ  and  the  need  to  be  look- 


190  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ing  and  watching  for  it  every  day,  that  we  may 
be  found  of  Him  in  peace,  and  not  suffer  the  sore 
excision    which    must    then   befall   the    unready. 
Again  and  again  the  solemn  command  is  to  keep 
awake   and  watch,    since  we    know^    neither   the 
day  nor  the  hour  when  the  Son  of  man  cometh. 
Whether  for  the  warning  of  the  wicked,  the  en- 
couragement of  the  saints,  or  the  stirring  up  of 
the  hearts  of  ministers  and  people  to  scrupulous 
fidelity  to  duty,  the  word  continually  is.  The  Loi^d 
is  at  hand — Behold  He  cometh — The  time  is  come 
that  judgment  must  begin — Blessed   is   he    that 
watcheth  and   keepeth  his  garments.     And  one 
reason  why  the  Christianity  of  our  day  is  so  flab- 
by, so  lacking  in  life  and  earnestness,  so  ready  to 
make  common  cause  with  the  world  and  its  van- 
ities, is  that  the  great  doctrine  of  the  near  and 
impending  coming  again  of  Christ  has  so  much 
dropped  out  of  the  thinking,   preaching,    belief, 
and  understanding  of  the    Church.     Did  people 
but  remember  and  realize  the  momentous  truth 
that  any   day   or  night  the   trump   of  judgment 
may   be   sounded   and    all    present   opportunities 
be  suddenly  cut  short,   a  very  different  state  of 
/  things  would  exist  and  life  would  instantly  take 
the  place  of  death.     Oh,  that  the  Church  might 
awake  to  the  momentous  things  that  must  shortly 
come  to  pass! 

And  what  guarantee  have  we,  dear  friends,  that 


TO    TJIE    CHURCH   OF  SARD  IS.  I9I 

ail)'  inoinent  may  not  tie  our  last  ?  Who  can  tell 
how  long  he  has  to  live  or  how  quickly  the  trum- 
pet of  judgment  may  sound,  the  dead  be  raised, 
and  all  God's  ready  saints  be  changed  and  caught 
away  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye?  Luther  gave  it 
as  his  belief  that  it  would  be  about  Easter-time 
that  the  Lord  would  come;  and  what  if  it  should 
be  the  Easter  of  this  present  year?  I  dare  not 
say  that  this  is  the  time,  neither  dare  I  say  that  it 
is  not;  for  no  man  knoweth  or  can  know.  But  it 
is  just  as  likely  to  be  in  such  a  year  as  this  has  so 
far  been  as  in  any  other.  And  our  Saviour  would 
have  us  lay  to  heart  and  consider  how  it  would  be 
with  us  if  He  should  now  come. 

Let  us,  then,  not  trifle  with  the  momentous  pos- 
sibility, but  heed  the  admonition  from  our  Lord 
to  get  ourselves  awake  to  duty,  to  strengthen  the 
things  that  remain,  to  repair  what  is  wanting,  and 
to  set  ourselves  right,  lest  He  should  come  upon 
us  in  the  stealth  and  unexpectedness  of  the  thief, 
and  all  should  be  disaster  before  we  know  it. 


Hectare  EtDclftlj, 

Rev.  3  :  4-6 :  "  Thou  hast  a  few  names  even  in  Sardis  which  have 
not  defiled  their  garments ;  and  they  shall  walk  with  me  in  white  :  for 
they  are  worthy.  He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed  in 
white  raiment ;  and  I  will  not  blot  out  his  name  out  of  the  book  of 
life,  but  I  will  confess  his  name  before  my  Father,  and  before  his 
angels.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  ihe  vSpirit  saith  unto 
the  churches.'' 

T  is  very  seldom  that  a  church  becomes  so 
corrupt  as  to  have  no  genuine  Christians 
in  it.  As  there  is  no  visible  church  in 
Christendom  in  which  all  the  members  can  be 
counted  as  saints,  so  there  is  scarcely  a  confessed 
church  which  has  no  good  and  faithful  children 
of  God  in  it.  There  was  an  Enoch  and  a  Noah 
in  the  midst  of  the  dreadful  apostasy  which 
brought  on  the  Flood,  a  Job  among  the  emirs 
of  Arabia,  an  Abraham  among  the  idolatrous 
population  of  Ur,  a  Lot  even  in  Sodom.  And 
so  in  the  midst  of  the  deadness  of  the  church  in 
Sardis  there  were  some  happy  exceptions,  some 
scattered  lights  amid  the  darkness — like  Savona- 
rola, Wickliflfe,  Huss,  and  Luther  amid  the  abound- 
ing gloom  of  the  ages  preceding  the  great  Refor- 
mation. 

192 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARD  IS.  1 93 

We  must  not  conclude  too  unfavorably  where 
things  look  ill.  The  stars  are  not  all  gone  be- 
cause the  sky  is  overcast.  Amid  the  dreary  snows 
and  ice-rivers  of  the  Alps  and  the  Apennines  there 
still  may  be  found  here  and  there  a  solitary  flower. 
We  search  in  vain  for  a  wilderness  so  sterile  as  not 
to  have  in  it  souie  spring,  some  oasis,  some  tree  or 
shrub  or  blossom.  When  /Vhab  had  destroyed  the 
prophets  of  the  Lord,  and  Elijah  thought  that  he 
alone  survived,  faithful  among  the  faithless,  God's 
eye  still  noticed  seven  thousand  who  had  not  bowed 
the  knee  to  Baal.  And  in  the  days  of  Malachi, 
when  almost  the  entire  nation  had  become  apos- 
tate, there  still  was  a  remnant  that  feared  the 
Lord,  who  spake  often  one  to  another,  and  whom 
God  had  entered  in  His  book  of  remembrance  as 
His  in  the  day  that  He  should  make  up  His 
jewels. 

It  is  wrong  to  assume  that  there  is  nothing  in 
Christianity,  or  that  religion  is  a  sham,  because 
there  are  so  many  faithless  people  in  the  Church; 
so  much  empty  profession;  so  many  betrayals  of 
confidence;  so  much  deceit,  uncharity,  and  bap- 
tized guilt;  so  much  cloaked  and  gilded  ungodli- 
ness; so  much  boastfulness  of  life  where  there  is 
so  much  death.  Sad  as  the  facts  may  be,  God 
has  not  left  Himself  without  witnesses.  There 
are  some  names  ^'even  in  Sardis  which  have  not 
defiled  their  o^arments  " — some  s^ood  men  and  true 

13 


194  '^'J^i^   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

in  whom  the  cause  of  Christ  is  justified,  its  saving 
virtue  proven,  and  its  glory  demonstrated — men 
in  whom  its  life  still  is  preserved  and  perpetuated, 
who  stand  as  monuments  to  the  faith,  the  lights 
of  their  country,  and  the  salt  of  the  earth.  If  it 
were  not  so  all  would  go  to  utter  desolation. 
Hence  Sodom's  judgment  lingers  while  lyot  is 
within  its  gates.  Till  Christians  have  escaped 
the  doomed  city  of  Jerusalem  stands  invulnerable. 
Great  Babylon  itself  is  secure  until  God's  people 
have  come  out  of  her.  x\nd  the  fact  that  things 
still  go  on  in  the  Church  and  in  the  world  as  well 
as  they  do  proves  that  true  faith  and  genuine  god- 
liness have  not  utterly  disappeared,  and  that  there 
are  still  some  genuine  saints  with  garments  unde- 
filed. 

I.   Note  the  Saviouf  s  description  of  these  people. 

He  says  of  them  that  they  "have  not  defiled 
their  garments."  A  man's  clothing  is  that  which 
is  next  to  him — that  in  which  he  puts  himself 
forth — that  in  which  he  lives,  moves,  and  acts. 
And  so  there  is  another  sort  of  clothing  which 
does  not  come  from  the  weaver's  loom  and  is  not 
fitted  by  the  tailor's  hand.  It  is  what  we  have 
around  us  in  the  world,  the  facts  and  circum- 
stances of  our  life-contact  with  the  earth  and  the 
things  of  the  earth,  our  relations  and  associations. 
Every  one  thus  has  his  vestment.  No  one  in  this 
respect   is    naked    or    divinely   intended   to   be. 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  SARDJS.  195 

Christianity  is  not  a  divestiture  of  one's  self  of 
domestic  and  social  surroundings.  It  is  not  the 
stripping  off  of  the  proper  garments  in  which 
alone  a  man  can  properly  live.  Seclusion,  soli- 
tude, asceticism,  monkery,  and  cloister-life,  sev- 
ered from  all  connection  with  the  ordinary  world, 
is  a  species  of  denudation  and  nakedness  outside 
of  the  divine  order.  All  natural  surroundings 
and  honest  pursuits,  with  all  the  cares,  anxieties, 
toils,  and  even  sorrows,  which  they  bring,  are  for 
our  greater  comfort,  usefulness,  and  glory.  He 
who  cuts  himself  off  from  them  cuts  himself  off 
from  God's  natural  sacraments.  They  are  our 
proper  clothing,  to  warm,  protect,  beautify,  and 
bless  us.  They  tend  to  ennoble,  not  degrade. 
They  have  a  spiritual  aim,  and  a  spiritual  value 
also,  if  they  be  rightly  managed.  Our  business 
as  Christians  is  not  to  cast  them  off,  but  to  wear 
them,  live  and  act  in  them,  only  so  as  to  keep 
them  without  being  draggled  and  defiled. 

The  atmosphere  of  this  world  may  be  unfavor- 
able to  purity.  There  is  a  constant  tendency  to 
taint.  Silver  will  tarnish  unless  pains  be  taken 
to  keep  it  clean  and  bright;  and  so  our  surround- 
ings are  liable  to  corrosion  and  soil  if  we  be  not 
on  our  guard.  Even  the  best  vestments  are  liable 
to  take  on  filth,  contagion,  impurity,  and  disease. 
There  can  be  no  putting  forth  of  life  on  earth  but 
it  is  exposed  to  uncleanness.     In  society,  in  busi- 


196  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

ness,  in  the  home,  and  even  in  the  church,  there 
is  constant  liability  to  slovenliness  and  defilement. 
James  charges  against  certain  Christian  professors 
that  their  garments  were  moth-eaten,  and  the  Sa- 
viour Himself  speaks  of  the  necessity  of  watch- 
ing and  keeping  our  garments. 

It  therefore  belongs  to  true  Christianity  not  to 
try  to  get  away  from  ordinary  life,  but  to  live  and 
act  in  such  a  way  as  to  keep  our  garments  clean. 
Washed  and  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb, 
they  can  also  be  kept  white  and  clean  even  in  the 
midst  of  all  the  dust  and  filth  of  this  unclean  world. 
If  the  Church,  as  such,  is  dead  and  corrupt,  there 
is  no  reason  why  we  as  individuals  should  be.  If 
others  wallow  in  imcleanness  and  glory  in  their 
shame,  there  is  no  occasion  for  us  to  follow  their 
ways.  Joseph  could  pass  through  trial  to  princely 
honor,  and  maintain  himself  from  first  to  last, 
without  becoming  unfaithful  to  God  and  right- 
eousness. Daniel  could  maintain  his  purity  un- 
impeachable through  dynasty  after  dynasty  in 
Babylon's  unholy  court.  x\nd  as  the  blessed 
Master  was  in  the  world  without  being  of  it, 
using  it  as  not  abusing  it,  so  may  we  also,  in  our 
degree,  make  our  passage  through  it  in  contact 
with  its  sins  without  contracting  its  impurities. 

Absolute  purity,  except  in  the  merit  and  right- 
eousness of  Christ,  we  cannot  have  on  earth. 
Weaknesses,   errors,   and   infirmities  cleave  to  us 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARDIS.  197 

all  our  lives  through.  We  cauuot  travel  without 
dust.  The  rust  will  settle  ou  the  purest  metal. 
But  we  ueed  not  keep  the  dust  on  us  nor  suffer 
the  rust  to  eat  the  metal  up.  These  people  in 
Sardis  managed  to  have  clean  garments,  though 
in  contact  with  very  great  corruption  and  decay. 
They  maintained  themselves  in  living  faith  and 
purity  where  everything  was  full  of  defilement 
and  deadness.  With  their  robes  washed  and 
made  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  they  wore 
them  without  soil.  They  had  turned  from  dumb 
idols  to  serve  the  living  God  and  to  wait  for  His 
Son  from  heaven;  and  in  this  service  and  waiting 
they  continued.  If  the  name  or  profession  of 
others  was  a  lie,  it  was  not  a  lie  in  their  case. 
They  may  have  had  a  hard  struggle  for  it,  but 
they  continued  faithful.  If  others  were  lured  by 
the  siren  songs  of  worldly  compliance,  they  were 
not.  If  others  were  content  with  a  name  to  live 
while  spiritually  dead,  this  could  not  be  said  of 
them.  Alive  to  the  truth  and  to  their  Christian 
calling,  they  continued  steadfast  in  the  same. 
They  had   "not  defiled  their  garments." 

II.  N'ote  tJic  Stxvioiir' s  commendation  to  these 
faithful  ones. 

Though  hidden  away  in  a  congregation  so  dead. 
He  had  not  overlooked  them.  Jesus  sees  and  notes 
the  humblest  and  most  hidden  of  His  saints,  and 
no  matter  how  bad,  diseased,  or  decayed  m^y  be 


198  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

the  church  to  which  they  belong,  He  knows  them 
and  takes  due  account  of  them,  and  has  them 
credited  in  His  memory  and  affection. 

These  were  perhaps  the  least  popular  and  the 
least  influential  of  all  the  members  of  the  church 
in  Sardis.  If  they  spoke  out,  it  is  plain  that  but 
little  regard  was  paid  to  them.  Perhaps  they 
were  credited  with  being  religious  over-much — 
with  being  too  scrupulous,  too  fanatical,  too  strict, 
and  more  disagreeable  than  pious.  Perhaps  they 
were  put  aside,  blamed  with  insubordination,  cen- 
sured as  disturbers  and  trouble-makers,  because 
they  protested  against  the  worldliness  and  dead- 
ness  which  had  taken  possession  of  that  church. 
But  Christ  here  speaks  for  them,  vindicates  them, 
declares  them  "worthy,"  and  gives  it  as  their  lot 
to  walk  with  Him  in  white. 

The  most  neglected  and  despised  on  earth  are 
often  the  most  esteemed  in  heaven.  It  matters 
not  for  the  standinor  of  men  in  the  eves  of  this 
world  or  in  the  eyes  of  a  dead  and  dying  Chris- 
tendom, provided  they  have  the  life  of  saints  as 
well  as  the  name — the  power  of  godliness  as  well 
as  its  form.  They  are  not  unknown  to  Jesus.  His 
favor  is  on  them  in  all  their  trials.  They  have 
status  in  heaven  which  the  highest  in  this  world's 
esteem  might  well  covet.  And  they  have  an  Ad- 
vocate and  a  blessed  record  on  high. 

"It  is  very  beautiful  to  observe  the  gracious 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARDIS.  1 99 

manner  in  which  the  Lord  recognizes  and  sets 
His  seal  of  allowance  to  the  good  which  he  any- 
where finds.  Abraham  said  '  that  be  far  from 
Thee  to  slay  the  righteons  with  the  wicked;'  and 
it  is  far  from  Him  even  to  seem  to  include  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked  in  a  common  blame. 
He  who  delivered  Noah  from  the  destruction  of 
the  old  world,  who  drew  just  Lot  out  of  Sodom, 
who  could  single  out  from  the  whole  wicked  fam- 
ily of  Jeroboam  and  take  from  the  evil  to  come 
Abijah  for  some  good  thing  that  w^as  found  in 
him,  beholds  the  few  faithful  in  Sardis  and  will 
not  suffer  them  to  endure  their  lot  as  if  they  were 
unnoticed  by  Him,  or  allow  them  to  be  included 
in  the  condemnation  of  the  church  to  which  they 
belonged." 

If  we  are  true  to  our  Christian  profession,  Jesus 
pronounces  us  blessed,  and  assures  us  of  great  re- 
ward in  heaven,  whatever  men  mav  think  of  us. 
Having  kept  the  garments  of  grace  unsoiled,  we 
shall  also  wear  the  garments  of  glory.  And, 
though  excluded  from  the  friendship  and  society 
of  the  proud  and  consequential  on  the  earth,  we 
nevertheless  shall  have  the  sublimer  companion- 
ship of  walking  wnth  Jesus  in  white — in  the  spot- 
less and  trailing  robes  of  dignity  and  honor. 

in.  Notice  the  specific  promises  to  this  chtiixh. 
"He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed 
in  white  raiment." 


20O  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

White  is  the  emblem  of  perfection,  purity,  and 
exaltation.  Anciently,  when  a  priest  was  to  be 
ordained  the  council  examined  his  genealogy  and 
his  person,  and  if  found  imperfect  he  was  clothed 
and  veiled  in  black  and  sent  away;  but  if  all  was 
right  he  was  clothed  in  white  and  passed  to  the 
dignity  of  a  priest  of  the  Most  High.  So  all 
Christians  are  called  to  be  priests  of  God  and  of 
Christ,  to  serve  in  the  eternal  sanctuary.  But  our 
attainment  to  that  honor  depends  on  the  success 
of  our  conflict  with  sin.  If  final  victors  we  shall 
be  arrayed  in  the  clean  linen,  pure  and  white,  as 
the  lyord's  royal  priests. 

The  Jewish  scribes  were  ambitious  to  walk  in 
long  robes.  They  considered  it  a  thing  of  grace, 
dignity,  and  honor.  The  Roman  patricians  wore 
white  robes  as  badges  of  their  high  rank  which 
none  but  themselves  might  wear.  These  marked 
them  for  the  special  respect  of  men  and  denoted 
their  superior  exaltation.  Perhaps  there  were 
some  such  in  the  church  of  Sardis  to  whom  the 
people  looked  up  with  particular  reverence.  But 
better  far  than  all  such  marks  of  dignity  is  the 
promise  to  every  Christian  victor.  All  such  are 
to  be  the  magnates  and  patricians  of  heaven,  for 
Jesus  says,  ' '  the  sanie  shall  be  clothed  in  white 
rairncnty  The  robes  of  Aaron  and  the  royalty 
of  David,  the  sacredness  of  the  priests  and  the 
rank  of  kings,  shall  be  united  upon  them.     The 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  SARD  IS.  201 

successful  Christian  is  to  "shine  as  the  sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  Father" — not  simply  in  what  is 
put  on  from  without,  but  also  with  the  correspond- 
ing- inner  glorification  of  the  whole  being,  like 
that  which  marked  the  Saviour  on  the  mount  of 
His  transfiguration. 

But  this  is  not  all.     The  Saviour  further  adds: 
^^And  I  ivill  not  blot  out  his  name  out  of  the 
book  of  life. ' ' 

When  any  one  submits  to  become  a  Christian, 
and  receives  baptism  into  the  Christian  common- 
wealth, his  name  is  "written  in  heaven"  as  well 
as  in  the  church-book  on  earth.  There  is  a  celes- 
tial roll-book  of  all  those  who  name  the  name  of 
Jesus.  But  it  depends  on  the  persevering  fidelity 
of  the  individual  whether  his  name  is  to  continue 
on  that  roll  or  to  be  blotted  out.  There  be  many 
names  once  entered  in  that  book  which  will  not 
appear  there  at  the  final  opening  of  it.  There  be 
many  whose  names  were  entered  there  when  as 
infants  they  were  given  and  dedicated  to  the  Lord 
who  in  after  years  refused  to  acknowledge  and 
stand  to  that  baptismal  consecration,  and  whose 
names  have  long  since  been  erased.  There  be 
many  whose  names  were  entered  there  as  they 
gave  themselves  to  be  Christ's  servants  and  vowed 
sacred  allegiance  to  Him  until  death,  but  who 
have  so  fallen  awav  from  their  enorao;ements  and 
duties  that  onlv  blots  remain  where  their  names 


202  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

once  stood.  There  be  many  whose  names  once 
glowed  with  splendid  promise  in  that  book  of  life, 
but  which  the  tears  of  the  recordino-  ano^el  have 
expunged  because  of  the  apostasies  and  failures 
of  those  from  whom  so  much  better  things  were 
hoped.  And  it  is  a  sadness  unspeakable  to  think 
how  many  blots  and  erasures  there  are  upon  the 
books  of  heaven  by  reason  of  the  failures  of  peo- 
ple who  once  were  on  the  way  of  life,  but  dropped 
out  before  finishing  their  race. 

But  there  are  names  there  which  never  shall  be 
blotted  out.  They  are  registered  as  the  true  and 
faithful  followers  of  the  Lord,  and  such  they  will 
continue  to  the  end.  Though  they  should  be 
stricken  from  all  the  rolls  of  honor  and  distinc- 
tion in  this  world,  they  will  never  be  blotted  from 
the  Lamb's  book  of  life.  Stars  may  fail,  rivers 
cease  to  flow,  flowers  fade,  monuments  of  brass 
and  marble  perish,  and  names  which  once  shook 
the  world  die  out  for  ever,  but  the  names  of  God's 
persevering  saints  shall  stand  in  the  register  of  the 
nobility  of  heaven,  ever  brighter  and  more  illus- 
trious as  the  everlasting  ages  run.  No  works  and 
merits  of  ours  can  write  us  in  that  book,  but  the 
all-suflicient  grace  of  Jesus  can.  And  if  w^e  have 
sincerely  embraced  Him  as  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
and  ever  cleave  to  Him  as  our  hope  and  strength, 
and  continue  steadfast  in  this  faith,  even  our  un- 
worthy names  shall  remain  upon  the  book  of  life 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  SARDIS.  203 

as  our   title   to  the   inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light. 

So  far  from  blotting  the  name  of  the  Christian 
victor  from  the  book  of  life,  Jesus  further  prom- 
ises, "/  ivill  confess  his  name  before  my  Father 
and  before  His  holy  angel s.^^  He  requires  of  us 
that  we  confess  Him  before  men.  It  pertains  to 
true  discipleship  publicly  to  espouse  Christ's  name 
and  cause  in  the  midst  of  this  gainsaying  world, 
and  not  to  be  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  our 
Lord.  It  is  the  least  that  we  should  ever  think 
of  doing  for  Him  who  has  done  so  much  for  us. 
It  is  the  soldier's  greatest  shame  not  to  stand 
courageously  to  his  colors.  But  Christ  in  turn 
engages  to  confess  us,  to  espouse  our  cause,  and 
to  acknowledge  and  stand  for  us  before  God  and 
all  the  dignitaries  of  heaven. 

It  is  something  to  have  one's  name  introduced 
to  the  favorable  consideration  of  kings  and  high 
potencies,  and  the  higher  the  dignity  and  influ- 
ence of  the  person  presenting  us  and  vouching  for 
us  the  sublimer  is  the  honor.  There  is  therefore 
a  largeness  and  blessedness  in  this  promise  far  be- 
yond what  we  might  on  first  hearing  suppose.  It 
means  that  the  very  Son  of  God,  to  whom  all  au- 
thority and  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth  is  given, 
proposes  to  present  us  to  the  eternal  Father  as  His 
acknowledged  friends,  for  whom  He  vouches  and 
for  whom  He  stands,  as  candidates  for  enthrone- 


204  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ment  amid  the  princedoms  and  sublime  fellow- 
ships of  the  heavenly  regencies. 

And  great  will  be  the  difference  between  the 
names  which  Jesus  will  confess  in  heaven  and 
those  which  figure  so  largely  in  the  hearing  and  an- 
nals of  men  in  this  world.  How  many  whom  popes 
have  canonized  and  crowds  have  worshipped  will 
then  fail  to  be  mentioned!  How  many  names  that 
have  floated  down  the  ages  and  sounded  in  end- 
less echoes  along  the  corridors  of  time  as  those  of 
the  noble,  the  mighty,  the  beautiful,  and  the  brave 
will  never  once  be  pronounced  or  heard  in  heaven! 
And  how  many  never  known  beyond  the  humblest 
circles,  and  never  once  heard  of  on  earth,  shall 
suddenly  come  forward  to  honorable  notice  as  the 
heirs  of  eternal  dominions  to  share  with  Jesus  in 
the  kingdom  prepared  by  the  Father  before  the 
world  was!  Yes,  many  names  of  which  all  the 
books  and  all  the  newspapers  and  all  the  utter- 
ances of  men  now  are  full  shall  never  once  be 
named  there,  while  others  which,  like  violets  by 
the  roadside  or  like  roses  in  the  wilderness,  have 
quite  escaped  all  observation,  or  which  perchance 
were  known  only  to  be  contemned  and  cast  out  as 
evil,  shall  be  brought  forth  as  the  worthiest  and 
noblest  that  ever  have  been  worn  in  this  world, 
and  live  in  sublimer  fame  for  all  the  everlasting 
ages  than  those  of  the  Solomons,  the  Alexanders, 
the  Caesars,  and  the  Napoleons  in  earthly  history. 


TO    y/IE   CHURCH   OF  SA/^J)/S.  20$ 

There  are  names  now  npon  no  books  on  earth 
but  the  church-records  of  some  humble  congrega- 
tions which  shall  then  turn  out  among  the  high- 
est in  the  records  of  the  redeemed.  There  are 
names  of  which  their  owners  are  half  ashamed, 
and  which  they  never  hear  pronounced  without 
a  degree  of  confusion  as  if  too  uncouth  and  un- 
worthy to  be  spoken;  but  if  those  who  have  them 
will  be  true  and  faithful  to  their  Lord  and  Sa- 
viour, and  hold  out  steadfast  in  their  lowly 
spheres,  Jesus  will  confess  them  in  the  Court  of 
heaven,  and  clothe  them  with  an  honor  in  which 
they  will  shine  illustrious  for  ever. 

Dear  friends,  these  are  very  wonderful  things, 
but  as  true  and  sure  as  they  are  wonderful.  Our 
blessed  Lord  Himself  hath  spoken  them  from 
heaven,  and  well  do  they  deserve  our  careful  and 
believing  notation.  Not  without  the  most  ample 
reason  does  He  add  here  also  the  admonitory 
words:  "//<^  that  hath  an  car^  let  him  hear  zvhat 
the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  cJiurehes.^^  It  is  Jesus 
who  speaks,  and  it  is  for  us  to  pay  the  most  rev- 
erent attention  to  what  comes  so  direct  from  the 
lips  of  the  King.  Matters  of  the  weightiest  and 
highest  concernment  of  every  man,  and  especially 
every  Christian,  are  here  brought  to  our  contem- 
plation, and  we  do  but  disable  and  dwarf  ourselves 
by  not  devoutly  taking  them  to  heart.     If  we  are 


2o6  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

dull  and  dead  in  our  profession,  here  is  the  divine 
direction  what  to  do  about  it.  If  we  find  the  bat- 
tle hard,  the  trials  heavy,  the  adversities  severe, 
and  the  whole  tendency  of  things  against  us,  here 
is  the  word  to  strengthen  and  encourage  us.  The 
strife  faithfully  maintained  will  have  a  glorious 
issue.  The  harder  the  fight,  the  higher  is  the 
heaven  to  be  won.  The  heavier  the  cross,  the 
brighter  the  crown.  For  the  spirit  of  heaviness 
come  the  garments  of  praise.  For  our  confession 
of  Christ  in  lowliness  will  be  His  confession  of  us 
before  the  Father  and  His  holy  angels.  We  have 
only  to  hear  and  heed  and  press  courageously  on, 
and  we  need  not  fear  for  the  result.  And  when 
the  time  comes  that  the  books  are  opened  and  the 
records  of  the  book  of  life  are  read  out,  our  names 
shall  be  found  written  in  it  to  our  everlasting  joy 
and  honor. 

' '  Behold, ' '  saith  the  Saviour,  ' '  I  give  unto  you 
power  to  tread  on  serpents  and  scorpions,  and  over 
all  the  power  of  the  enemy;  and  nothing  shall  by 
any  means  hurt  you.  Notwithstanding,  in  this 
rejoice  not,  that  the  spirits  are  subject  to  you;  but 
rather  rejoice  because  your  7ia7nes  are  written  in 
heavcn^^  (Ivuke  lo :  19,  20). 


Hcdure  ffiijirtceutlj. 


Rev.  3:7-11:  "And  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Philadelphia 
write  :  These  things  sailh  He  that  is  holy,  He  that  is  true,  He  that  hath 
the  key  of  David,  He  that  openeth,  and  no  man  shutteth ;  and  shut- 
teth,  and  no  man  openeth :  I  know  thy  works  :  behold,  I  have  set  be- 
fore thee  an  open  door,  and  no  man  can  shut  it :  for  thou  hast  a  little 
strength,  and  hast  kept  My  word,  and  hast  not  denied  My  name.  Be- 
hold, I  will  make  them  of  the  synagogue  of  vSatan,  which  say  they  are 
Jews,  and  are  not,  but  do  lie ;  behold,  I  will  make  them  to  come  and 
worship  before  thy  feet,  and  to  know  that  I  have  loved  thee.  Because 
thou  hast  kept  the  word  of  My  patience,  I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the 
hour  of  temptation,  which  shall  come  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them 
that  dwell  upon  the  earth.  Behold,  I  come  quickly :  hold  that  fast 
which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown." 


lOME  have  the  idea  that  there  was  nothing 
faulty  in  connection  with  the  church  in 
Philadelphia,  and  that  its  professed  mem- 
bers, though  weak  and  poor,  were  all  worthy  and 
commendable  Christians.  This  doubtless  was  true 
with  respect  to  the  persons  included  in  the  Sa- 
viour's commendation,  but  I  am  persuaded  it  is 
a  mistake  when  accepted  as  covering  the  whole 
case. 

If  the  entire  professed  church  in  Philadelphia 
was  in  such  a  good  condition  spiritually,  it  was 
an  exception  to  all  other  known  churches;  and  so 
is  also  named  at  the  wrong  place  in  this  list,  for 

207 


208  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

the  order  of  succession  is  that  of  growing  dete- 
rioration. The  few  weak  ones  here  so  tenderly 
commended  by  the  Saviour  are  plainly  but  a  fee- 
ble and  depressed  fraction  of  the  general  body  of 
Philadelphians  professing  to  be  Christians.  There 
is  also  a  distinct  reference  to  another  and  more 
influential  class,  from  whom  these  few  poor  saints 
were  suffering  much,  and  whom  the  Saviour  de- 
scribes as  "those  which  say  they  are  Jews,  and 
are  not,  but  do  lie."  Who  were  these?  If  they 
were  literal  born  Jews,  adhering  to  their  own  syn- 
agogue, distinct  and  apart  from  the  professed 
Church  of  Christ,  it  is  hard  to  conceive  why  the 
Saviour  would  say  that  the}'  were  not  Jews  and 
that  their  profession  was  a  lie.  The  implication 
also  is  that  if  these  false  ones  had  been  true  Jews, 
as  they  professed  and  claimed  to  be,  Christ  could 
and  would  have  approved  and  commended  them 
the  same  as  the  others;  whereas  this  was  not  pos- 
sible unless  they  had  been  at  the  same  time  con- 
fessing believers  in  Him.  If  the  question  lay 
simply  between  being  pseudo-Jews  and  Jews  of 
the  true  natural  blood  of  Abraham,  Jesus  could 
no  more  acknowledge  them  in  the  one  case  than 
in  the  other  apart  from  Christian  faith  and  pro- 
fession; so  that  we  are  obliged  to  consider  them 
professing  Christians. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  large  number 
of  the  Christians  of  those  days,   in  most  places, 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        209 

were  of  Jewish  blood.  Even  Paul,  the  great 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  iiearl\-  always  begau  with 
the  Jews,  and  his  first  converts  were  almost  inva- 
riably from  among  the  Jews.  A  distinction  thus 
came  to  be  made  between  believing  or  baptized 
Jews  and  those  who  stood  out  in  opposition  to 
the  Christian  faith.  Those  who  believed  and 
were  baptized  were  considered  the  right  Jews — the 
Jews  of  the  true  and  saving  circumcision  of  the 
heart — the  Jews  who  were  the  only  Jews  in  real- 
ity, because  they  entered  into  the  real  faith  and 
spirit  of  the  covenant  with  believing  Abraham; 
while  all  others  were  regarded  as  spurious  Jews, 
because,  while  holding  to  the  shell  of  the  ancient 
faith,  they  were  in  fact  apostates  from  the  cove- 
nant of  promise.  Hence  to  profess  Christianity 
was  to  profess  to  be  the  true  and  only  proper  Jews 
according  to  the  genuine  spirit  and  import  of  the 
promise  to  Abraham's  seed.  This  was  the  doc- 
trine then  held. 

Accordingly,  also,  Paul  wrote  to  the  Romans 
that  "He  is  not  a  Jew  which  is  one  outwardly; 
neither  is  that  circumcision  which  is  outward  in 
the  flesh;  but  he  is  a  Jew  \i.  e.  a  right  Jew]  which 
is  one  inwardly;  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the 
heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter;  whose 
praise  is  not  of  men,  but  of  God."  So  also  he 
wrote  to  the  Galatians:  ''If  ye  be  Christ's,  then 
are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the 

14 


2IO  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

promise."  And  had  these  people  been  ever  so 
true  Jews  without  being  Christians,  it  is  not  pos- 
sible that  Christ  could  have  acknowledged  and 
commended  them  as  belonging  to  His  Church. 

Those,  therefore,  whom  the  Saviour  here  cha- 
racterizes as  professing  to  be  Jews,  but  whose  pro- 
fession was  a  lie,  could  be  none  other  than  persons 
who  professed  Christianity,  but  whose  profession 
was  false — so  false  that  He  condemns  them  as  a 
very  "synagogue  of  Satan."  The  whole  de- 
scription shows  that  they  were  the  chief  body  of 
professed  Christians  in  Philadelphia — people  who 
had  things  largely  in  their  own  control,  but  were 
only  self-deceivers,  hypocrites,  and  liars,  so  far 
departed  from  all  genuine  Christianity  and  so 
destitute  of  faith  and  charity  as  to  be  in  reality 
the  children  of  the  Bvil  One — an  apostate  crew, 
not  at  all  entitled  to  place  in  the  congregation  of 
believers. 

To  confess  Christ,  to  accept  baptism  into  His 
name,  and  to  take  upon  us  the  confession  of 
Christianity  are  necessary.  We  cannot  be  rated 
as  true  Christians  without  these.  But  mere  pro- 
fession is  not  enough.  We  must  inwardly  be  and 
live  what  we  profess.  We  must  be  hearty,  true, 
and  consistent  in  our  profession.  We  must  be 
Christians  in  reality,  and  not  only  in  name  and 
claim,  in  order  to  have  place  in  Christ's  acknow- 
ledgment and  regard.     And  it  is  a  sad  fact  that 


TO    THE    ClIi'RCIl   OF  PIULADELPHLA.        211 

there  be  many  who  make  loud  and  confident  claim 
of  being  Christians,  putting  down  all  others  as  far 
beneath  them,  while  their  hearts  are  not  at  all 
right;  and  Christ  refuses  to  acknowledge  them  as 
any  real  part  of  His  Church.  Though  professedly 
Christians  beyond  all  Christians,  in  the  view  of 
Heaven  they  are  nothing  but  a  synagogue  of  Sa- 
tan, having  neither  part  nor  lot  with  Christ's  true 
people.  It  is  strange  that  it  should  be  so;  that 
men  should  so  impose  upon  themselves;  that  any 
could  be  so  lost  to  all  right  sensibility  and  honesty 
as  to  vaunt  themselves  as  Christians  while  really 
the  children  of  the  devil.  But  so  it  was  in  this 
church  of  Philadelphia,  and  so  it  has  been  over 
and  over  again  in  all  the  Christian  ages;  na}^, 
there  is  every  reason  for  us  all  to  search  our- 
selves well  to  make  sure  that  such  is  not  our 
own  case. 

So,  then,  this  church  in  Philadelphia,  taken  as 
a  whole  according  to  profession,  was  by  far  the 
worst  in  the  list  thus  far.  In  Ephesus  there  was 
a  cooling  of  first  love,  which  is  the  beginning  and 
source  of  all  that  is  bad  in  Christian  declension. 
When  the  fervor  of  divine  love  is  gone,  the  way 
is  open  for  every  other  bad  development  and  ill 
growth.  But  it  was  there  only  a  cooling  of  love. 
There  were  some  bad  practices  and  some  false 
apostles,  but  they  were  vigorously  resisted  and 
discipline  was  maintained. 


212  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

In  Smyrna  there  were  falsifiers  who  had  grown 
into  blasphemers  and  lying  perverters  of  the  truth, 
who  showed  that  they  were  of  the  Satanic  school. 
But  they  were  few  and  had  obtained  no  standing 
or  control  in  the  church.  In  Pergamos  bad  deeds 
had  grown  into  corrupt  doctrines.  Errors  of  life 
had  come  to  a  place  in  the  creed,  and  falsities  be- 
gan to  appear  in  the  place  of  power  and  control. 
The  church  and  the  world  began  to  be  friends 
and  to  intermarry,  and  the  proper  distinctness  of 
the  church  began  to  be  obscured.  In  Thyatira 
matters  had  become  still  worse.  Devil-oracles, 
sanctioning,  teaching,  and  justifying  evil  deeds, 
here  found  lodgment  and  place  as  divine  proph- 
ecies, and  many  Christians  were  betrayed  and  de- 
ceived into  the  basest  uncleannesses  under  the 
guise  of  knowing  "the  depths  of  Satan"  and 
triumphing  over  him  by  doing  his  works.  In 
Sardis  living  faith  had  come  to  an  almost  uni- 
versal deadness,  so  that  there  were  but  ' '  a  few 
names"  left  which  had  not  defiled  their  gar- 
ments. The  Christian  profession  had  been  main- 
tained, and  there  was  much  formal  devotion,  but 
the  true  spirit  of  faith  had  largely  departed.  The 
church  for  the  most  part  had  become  a  mere  car- 
cass, beautiful  and  impressive  in  external  form, 
with  plenty  of  showy  power,  winning  for  it  an 
imposing  name,  but  without  life  and  spiritually 
dead. 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        21 3 

And  here  in  Philadelphia  an  utterly  false  Chris- 
tianity had  so  far  usurped  the  place  of  the  true 
that  the  most  influential  part  of  the  church  could 
no  more  be  tolerated  as  at  all  belonorinor  to  the 

o        o 

Church  of  Christ,  but  was  turned  into  a  very 
synagogue  of  Satan,  overriding,  oppressing,  and 
proudly  casting  out  of  all  sympathy  those  who 
alone  could  be  regarded  as  proper  Christians. 

It  is  a  melancholy  thing  to  have  a  name  to  live 
and  yet  be  dead  or  dying,  but  it  is  a  still  worse 
thing  to  be  alive,  active,  and  potential  in  what  is 
so  contrary  to  Christ  under  name  and  pretence  of 
being  the  Lord's  people.  Yet  to  such  deceptions 
may  men  persuade  themselves,  vaunting  as  pre- 
eminent children  of  God  while  utterly  disowned 
of  Christ  as  noue  of  His.  And  to  this  condition 
had  the  main  body  of  these  Philadelphians  re- 
duced themselves. 

But  there  still  were  some  whom  the  Saviour 
could  and  did  acknowledge.  They  were  poor, 
inconsiderable,  and  at  a  great  disadvantage,  but 
they  were  believing  and  true.  The  pastor  seems 
to  have  been  a  weak  man  and  not  much  esteemed 
by  some  of  his  people,  but  he  was  strong  enough 
in  faith  and  principle  not  to  be  carried  away  or 
silenced  by  the  prevailing  majority.  He  knew 
the  truth,  and  held  it  and  preached  it,  though  it 
met  with  no  favorable  response  or  sympathy  from 
the  most  of  his  flock.     The  humbler  and  poorer 


214  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

ones  believed  and  held  with  him,  bnt  the  rest  ac- 
cepted only  so  nuich  as  they  liked,  held  to  more 
liberal  ideas,  and  frowned  upon  those  who  were 
so  simple  as  to  take  what  was  taught  them  as  true 
gospel.  But  it  was  true  gospel,  nevertheless;  and 
the  very  titles  under  which  the  Saviour  presents 
Himself  to  this  church  of  Philadelphia  presup- 
pose some  such  state  of  things  as  I  have  de- 
scribed. 

I.  Notice  thksk  Titi.es. 

''These  things  saith  He  that  is  Jioly^^ — more  lit- 
erally, ^^  the  Holy  One^^ — He  who  is  absolute  holi- 
ness in  Himself.  This  identifies  Christ  as  God, 
for  it  would  be  blasphemy  in  any  mere  man  or 
angel  so  to  speak  of  himself  But  the  assump- 
tion of  this  title  here  looks  to  some  unsanctity  in 
the  people  of  Philadelphia  with  which  the  Holy 
One  is  inherently  and  eternally  at  war. 

"//<?  that  is  triLC^^ — not  only  true  as  the  truth- 
lover  and  the  truth-speaker,  but  the  Truth  itself — 
He  in  whom  all  truth  has  its  highest  and  only 
perfect  realization.  This  again  identifies  Christ 
as  God.  He  could  not  so  claim  for  Himself  if 
He  were  not  God.  But  the  putting  of  this  title 
forward  here  points  to  some  intense  falsity  con- 
templated in  this  Letter,  and  which  He  is  about 
to  treat  as  absolute  truth  demands. 

"//"^  that  hath  the  key  of  Dauid ;^^   that  is,  the 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        21 5 

key  of  the  divine  kingdom  to  open  or  slint  beyond 
all  other  power  to  reverse  it.  Sncli  a  presentation 
points  to  some  blasphemous  usurpations,  some  put- 
ting of  the  ban  where  there  was  no  right  to  put  it, 
some  claim  of  liberty  or  authority  to  open  and 
shut.  There  was  wrong  somewhere  to  be  reversed 
and  righted,  and  an  assumption  of  place,  preroga- 
tive, or  power  which  was  not  according  to  Christ. 
And  hence  Christ  declares  that  He  has  the  key — 
that  IJe  will  do  the  opening  and  the  shutting. 

All  this  answers  precisely  to  the  representation 
I  have  given,  that  a  large  part  of  the  professed 
church  at  Philadelphia  was  presumptuously  im- 
perious in  its  apostasy  and  lying  pretensions. 

II.  Notice  the  encouragements  given. 

''''Behold^  I  have  set  before  thee  an  open  door., 
and  no  man  can  shut  it.''''  The  emphasis  is  on 
the  /,  and  the  clear  implication  is  that  some 
strong  human  activity  was  at  work  to  silence 
these  people  or  to  set  them  back  from  their  right- 
ful place  and  influence.  The  announcement  is 
one  of  encouragement  and  blessed  promise  to 
them.  Though  men  were  trying  to  suppress 
them  and  break  them  down  from  proclaiming 
and  propagating  what  they  held  and  believed, 
the  mighty  Jesus  was  with  them.  He  who  has 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  was  on  their  side.  He 
who  opens  and  shuts  beyond  all  power  of  man  to 


2l6  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

make  it  otherwise,  was  there  to  order  the  course 
of  events,  pledging  to  keep  the  door  open  for 
them  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  hinder  or  restrain 
them. 

^^Thou  hast  little  strength^  There  was  much 
weakness,  so  much  that  they  were  held  to  be  of 
little  or  no  account.  It  was  not  so  much  that 
their  strength  was  unacknowledged,  but  that  it 
did  not  exist.  Yet  in  all  their  weakness  and  in- 
significance they  had  been  faithful:  ^^Thoii  hast 
kept  My  ivord^  and  hast  not  denied  My  7tamey 
The  particular  word  which  they  had  kept,  and 
which  others  denied,  is  indicated  in  the  tenth 
verse.  Jesus  there  says,  ^^Thou  hast  kept  the 
word  of  My  patience y  The  word  of  Christ's 
patience  is  not  only  the  word  of  Christ  in  gen- 
eral, but  a  more  particular  word — His  word  with 
a  special  reference.  Christ's  patience  is  His  for- 
bearance with  the  wicked,  His  restraint  of  sum- 
mary judgment  upon  their  misdeeds  and  blas- 
phemies, His  keeping  of  silence  for  the  time 
under  the  manifold  insults  and  persecutions  ren- 
dered to  Him  and  His  Church,  until  the  time 
comes  for  Him  to  ascend  the  throne  of  judgment 
and  to  reward  transgressors  according  to  their 
works.  vSuch  a  day  is  coming.  God  hath  ap- 
pointed it.  It  is  a  day  that  shall  burn  as  an 
oven,  and  all  the  wncked  shall  be  consumed  as 
stubble.     It  is  described   as   the   time  when  our 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  PHILADELTIIIA.        21/ 

God  shall  no  longer  keep  silence,  bnt  shall  come 
with  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of 
God  to  gather  all  His  faithful  ones  to  Himself  and 
to  tread  the  winepress  of  almighty  wrath  upon  all 
the  children  of  disobedience.  And  the  word  of 
His  patience  can  be  no  other  word  than  that  of 
His  Gospel  with  respect  to  that  impending  day, 
when  He  shall  come  to  rectify  all  present  disor- 
ders and  to  render  to  every  one  according  to  his 
works. 

The  keeping  of  this  word  of  Christ's  patience 
of  course  includes  the  keeping  of  the  entire  Gos- 
pel, but  that  Gospel  as  more  especially  related  to 
His  present  waiting  and  forbearance  with  the 
wicked  till  the  time  for  Him  to  arise  and  judge 
the  earth — the  keeping  up  of  the  faith  and  hope 
of  the  Saviour's  return,  the  building  of  our  cal- 
culations on  it,  the  conditioning  of  our  behavior 
with  reference  to  it,  the  comforting  of  our  souls 
in  it,  and  the  fearless  confession  and  preaching  of 
it  as  the  blessed  hope  of  the  saints. 

And  with  such  a  keeping  of  the  word  of  Christ's 
patience  the  Saviour  here  credits  these  poor  peo- 
ple as  over  against  their  self-consequential  con- 
temners, who  only  ridiculed  and  despised  such 
ideas  and  teachings.  The  cherishing  of  the  ad- 
vent  hope  and  faith  was  the  central  point  in  their 
whole  Christian  character,  the  highest  element  of 
their  piety,  the  chief  particular  noted  in  the  Sa- 


2l8  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

viour's  commendation  of  them.  They  had  kept 
His  word,  and  above  all  tJie  word  of  His  pa- 
tience^ bearing,  forbearing,  and  holding  on  in 
steadfast  waiting  and  looking  for  the  coining 
again  of  the  lyord  Jesus,  when  all  their  wrongs 
should  be  righted,  their  confidence  vindicated, 
and  all  their  blessed  expectations  fulfilled. 

And  for  this,  the  special  favors  of  Him  who  is 
the  Holy  One,  the  absolute  Truth,  and  the  Pos- 
sessor of  all  the  keys  and  powers  of  the  kingdom, 
were  vouchsafed  and  promised  unto  them. 

Weak  and  despised  as  they  were,  the  door  was 
to  be  kept  open  for  them.  Men  might  try  to  shut 
it,  but  never  should  succeed  in  so  doing.  Christ 
pledged  that  He  would  keep  them  in  place  and 
opportunity,  no  matter  what  efforts  might  be 
made  to  decry  them  or  to  silence  their  testimony. 
They  might  be  held  in  discredit,  contemned,  as- 
sailed, and  denounced,  but  Jesus  engaged  to  see 
that  they  should  not  be  displaced,  pulled  down, 
or  shut  out  from  position  and  hearing  for  their 
cause.  He  tells  them  that  He  who  holds  the  keys 
has  set  an  open  door  before  them  which  no  power 
of  man  should  be  able  to  close. 

Furthermore,  with  all  their  weakness  and  dis- 
advantages their  cause  was  to  carry  in  the  end. 
The  time  was  to  come  when  even  their  opposers 
and  oppressors  would  come  to  them  in  deep  hu- 
miliation to  worship  at  their  feet  and  to  confess 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PHILADELPHIA.        2I9 

that  theirs  was  the  true  cause  of  God.  The  prom- 
ise meant  that  the  time  wouki  come  when  these 
haughty  despisers  in  Philadelphia  would  be  com- 
pelled to  humble  themselves  to  these  poor  saints, 
and  to  confess  them  after  all  the  true  servants  and 
favorites  of  the  Lord.  They  were  on  the  winning 
side,  and  their  holding  on  firmly  amid  ridicule 
and  detraction  was  to  make  of  them  the  very 
princes  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.  Not  by  their 
strength  and  eloquence,  not  by  their  merit  and 
deservings,  but  by  the  power  and  grace  of  Him 
who  holds  all  the  keys  and  powers  of  the  king- 
dom, they  were  to  be  brought  to  honor  for  hold- 
ing fast  the  word  of  His  patience. 

Nay  more:  ^^I  zvill  keep  thee  from  the  hoiir  of 
temptation  zvhich  shall  come  upon  all  the  world y 
There  is  a  time  of  tribulation  coming  more  severe 
than  has  ever  been  in  all  the  ages.  The  preliba- 
tions  of  it  were  experienced  under  the  plagues  of 
Egypt  in  the  days  of  Moses  and  during  the  period 
in  which  Jerusalem  came  to  its  final  desolations. 
These  were  the  beginnings  of  the  sorrows  and 
trials  yet  to  come  on  all  the  unholy  dwellers  upon 
earth  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other.  Christ  calls 
it  "  the  hour  of  tempt  ation^^^  or  trial.  It  will  be  a 
brief  period,  but  one  of  consummated  distress  and 
sorrow.  It  is  further  spoken  of  in  this  book  as 
"  the  tribulation^  the  great  one^^''  when  all  the 
tribes  of  the  earth   shall  mourn,   and  judgments 


220  777^   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

upon  judgments  the  most  appalling  shall  fall  upon 
all  the  children  of  disobedience.  But  from  these 
plagues  and  troubles  the  Saviour  here  pledged  to 
save  all  who  keep  the  word  of  His  patience:  "  Be- 
cause thou  hast  kept  the  w^ord  of  My  patience,  I 
also  will  keep  thee  from  the  hour  of  temptation, 
which  shall  come  upon  all  the  world,  to  try  them 
that  dwell  upon  the  earth. ' ' 

Nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  way  in 
which  He  will  fulfil  this  promise.  When  He  was 
upon  earth  He  gave  command  to  His  people,  say- 
ing, "Take  heed  to  yourselves,  lest  at  any  time 
your  hearts  be  overcharged  with  surfeiting,  and 
drunkenness,  and  cares  of  this  life,  and  so  that 
day  come  upon  you  unawares;  for  as  a  snare  shall 
it  come  on  all  them  tliat  dwell  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth.  Watch  ye  therefore,  and  pray  always, 
that  ye  may  be  accounted  worthy  to  escape  all  these 
things  that  shall  come  to  pass^  and  to  stand  before 
the  Son  of  vian^^  (Luke  21:34-36).  Again,  He 
said  respecting  that  same  time,  "There  shall  be 
two  in  one  bed;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the 
other  shall  be  left.  Two  shall  be  grinding  to- 
gether; the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  left. 
Two  shall  be  in  the  field;  the  one  shall  be  taken, 
and  the  other  left."  And  when  the  question  was 
asked  whither  these  should  be  "taken,"  He  an- 
swered, to  where  the  body  is;  that  is,  to  wdiere 
He  Himself  shall  then  be,  as  Paul  also  explains: 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        221 

"We" — the  true  and  watching  believers — "which 
are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  to  meet 
the  Ivord  in  the  air"  (Ivuke  17:34-37;  i  Tliess. 
14 :  18). 

The  way,  then,  in  which  Christ's  true  and 
faithful  followers,  eagerly  waiting  for  His  com- 
ing again,  are  to  be  kept  from  the  hour  of  trial 
and  saved  from  the  woes  of  the  great  tribulation 
is  by  being  translated,  caught  up  to  heaven,  trans- 
ferred from  earth  to  the  presence  of  their  Lord, 
before  the  great  trial  strikes  the  guilty  world. 
And  for  this  the  Scriptures  everywhere  teach  us 
to  look  and  wait  and  watch  and  hope,  thus  hold- 
ing fast  the  word  of  Christ's  patience,  sure  that 
if  we  are  thus  dutiful  and  true  no  fires  of  judg- 
ment shall  ever  fall  upon  us,  and  when  the  wicked 
are  cut  off  we  shall  see  it — see  it  from  the  pavil- 
ion of  our  security  in  heaven. 

And  yet,  again,  if  these  poor  despised  people 
would  only  hold  fast  what  they  had,  they  were 
to  be  crowned  as  eternal  kings:  ^^Hold  that  fast 
which  thou  hast^  that  no  man  take  thy  crozvn.''''  It 
is  no  mere  figure  of  speech,  but  the  truest  and 
deepest  reality,  when  the  promises  speak  of  in- 
heriting the  kingdom,  wearing  crowns,  and  reign- 
ing with  Christ  for  ever  and  ever.  John  had  a 
vision  of  the  whole  thing  when  he  beheld  the 
indescribable  Sitter  upon  the  throne,  and  round 
about  four-and-twenty  other   thrones,    and  upon 


222  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

them  four-and- twenty  elders  seated,  clothed  in 
white  raiment  and  having  on  their  heads  crowns 
of  gold.  And  again  he  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat 
npon  them,  and  power  to  rnle  was  given  unto 
them,  and  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ. 

Dear  friends,  this  is  not  mere  poetry;  it  is  truth. 
It  is  not  mere  pictorial  show;  it  is  substantial  real- 
ity. In  the  regeneration  those  who  have  followed 
Christ  faithfully  shall  sit  on  thrones;  and  when  the 
Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear  they  shall  receive  a 
croivn  of  glory  that  fadeth  not  away.  It  is  a  tran- 
scendent promise,  but  He  who  makes  it  is  the 
Truth  itself,  and  has  the  keys  and  powers  to  ful- 
fil it,  and  will  certainly  make  it  good.  The  poor- 
est, weakest,  and  most  despised  saint  on  earth  may 
yet  become  an  immortal  king.  There  is  a  crown 
for  him  if  he  will  but  hold  fast  the  word  of  Christ's 
patience  amid  the  wrongs  and  trials  to  which  he 
is  here  subjected. 

It  will  not  be  long.  Jesus  says:  "Behold,  I 
come  quickly:  hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast, 
that  no  man  take  thy  crown."  That  crown  is 
sure  to  every  one  if  we  will  but  aim  for  it,  con- 
tinue as  we  have  begun,  and  hold  the  beginning 
of  our  confidence  steadfast  unto  the  end.  For 
this  Christ  suffered,  and  died,  and  ever  lives  in 
eternal  power,  and  soon  the  day  of  His  patience 
will  be  over  and  the  glory  of  His  kingdom  be  re- 
vealed.    Eighteen  hundred  years  ago  the  faithful 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        223 

apostle  Paul  prayed  for  the  Christians  of  Tliessa- 
loiiica:  "The  Lord  direct  your  hearts  into  the 
love  of  God,  and  into  a  patient  waiting  for 
Christ."  And  this  is  just  what  we  all  need,  that 
we  "  may  be  found  of  Him  in  peace,  without  spot, 
and  blameless."  Falsities  mav  be  thick  around 
us,  but  we  must  hold  fast,  looking  for  and  hasting 
unto  the  day  when  deliverance  shall  come  and 
glorious  triumph.  Some  may  sneer  and  hold  us 
in  disrepute  because  of  our  doctrine  and  our  hope, 
but  Jesus  bids  us  hold  it  fast,  and  pledges  to  us 
support  and  protection  in  our  fidelity,  an  open 
door  in  this  world  and  an  unfading  crown  in  the 
world  to  come. 


iLecture  #ciurteeiitl). 

Rev.  3  :  12,  13  :  "  Him  that  overcometh,  will  I  make  a  pillar  in  the 
temple  of  My  God,  and  he  shall  go  no  more  out :  and  I  will  write  upon 
him  the  name  of  My  God,  and  the  name  of  the  city  of  My  God,  which 
is  new  Jerusalem,  which  cometh  down  out  of  heaven  from  My  God : 
and  I  will  write  upon  him  My  new  name.  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let 
him  hear  what  the  Sytmt  saith  unto  the  churches." 

DISTINGUISHED  preacher  has  said, 
"There  is  such  a  collection  of  glories 
gathered  together  around  the  head  of  this 
Philadelphia  church,  that  I  fear  lest  I  should  lose 
myself  in  the  admiration  of  their  much  splendor, 
and  forget  the  soberness  of  mind  which  beseemeth 
the  interpreter  of  God's  holy  word."  Some  of 
these  glories,  as  realized  in  this  world,  have 
already  been  noticed;  but  far  greater  glories, 
promised  to  the  faithful  in  the  world  to  come, 
are  now  to  be  considered.  And  may  God  help  us 
to  treat  of  them  with  that  reverent  and  thoughtful 
soberness  which  such  momentous  things  demand! 
Varied  and  great  is  the  glory  of  the  promises 
to  the  victors  in  these  seven  I^etters  of  our  Lord. 
A  full  and  exhaustive  treatment  of  them  would 
fill  a  volume.     They  set  before  us  a  portion  for 

224 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PHILADELPHIA.        22$ 

Christ's  faithful  overcomers  at  which  the  lean, 
shadowy,  and  empty  thing  which  some  talk  of  as 
heaven  sinks  into  insipidity  and  contempt.  They 
give  us  something  the  soul  can  take  hold  of,  some- 
thing substantial  and  tangible  to  think  of,  some- 
thing fitted  to  our  nature  and  aspirations,  and  of 
a  sort  to  brace  up  courage  manfully  to  bear  the 
cross  that  may  be  laid  upon  us  in  this  life. 

We  saw  in  our  last  that  there  is  increased  evil- 
ness  in  the  successive  presentations  of  the  seven 
churches,  the  first  being  the  best,  and  each  one  in 
its  order  being  a  stage  or  degree  deeper  in  defec- 
tion than  the  one  before  it.  But  there  is  likewise 
a  gradation  in  these  promises.  Whether  the  dif- 
ferent grades  refer  to  seven  orders  of  saintship  or 
to  seven  degrees  in  the  rewards  of  the  saints,  or 
to  both,  there  is  a  distinct  rising  from  glory  in  the 
first  to  higher  glor}'  in  the  second,  and  so  on  to 
the  highest  in  the  last.  To  the  Ephesian  victor 
Christ  awards  restoration  to  lost  paradise,  giving 
him  "to  eat  from  off  the  tree  of  life  which  is  in 
the  midst  of  the  paradise  of  God."  To  him  who 
remained  faithful  under  the  Snnrna  trials  is 
awarded  "the  crown  of  life"  and  exemption 
from  the  second  death.  To  the  victor  of  Per- 
gamos  is  awarded  "the  hidden  manna,  and  a 
white  gem  engraved  with  a  new  name  which  no 
one  knoweth  saving  he  that  receiveth  it."  The 
victor  of  Thyatira  is  to  have  authority  over  the 

15 


226  THE  LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

nations,  to  rule  them  with  a  sceptre  of  iron,  and 
to  possess  "the  morning  star."  The  victor  in 
Sardis  has  promise  of  being  "clothed  in  white 
raiment,"  to  walk  with  Christ  in  white,  to  have 
his  name  retained  in  the  book  of  life,  and  to  be 
confessed  by  Christ  before  the  Father  and  His 
holy  angels.  And  so  there  is  a  still  ampler  and 
more  manifold  promise  to  the  victor  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

Let  us,  then,  note  these  particulars  and  en- 
deavor to  grasp  the  depth  of  their  meaning  for 
our  edification  and  encouragement  in  fighting 
the  good  fight  of  faith. 

First  Itkm  :  '  ''Him  that  overcometh  will  I  make 
a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  My  God.,  and  he  shall  go 
no  7nore  outy 

The  over  comer  here,  as  in  each  of  the  seven 
Epistles,  is  the  true  Christian  who  holds  out 
faithful  to  the  end  against  such  falsities,  errors, 
evils,  and  temptations  as  he  may  have  had  to 
contend  with — the  true  believer,  who  continues 
steadfast  in  his  or  her  faith,  and  is  found  waiting 
and  ready  when  the  Lord  conies — and  specially 
includes  such  as  keep  the  word  of  Christ's  pa- 
tience in  humble  waiting  for  His  return  to  right 
all  present  wrongs  and  to  bring  His  true  people 
to  their  final  rewards.  And  to  these  overcomers 
the  promise  here  is  that  Christ  will  make  them 
pillars  in  the  temple  of  God. 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        22/ 

But  what  is  the  temple  thus  coutemplated  ?  In 
one  sense  there  is  no  temple  in  heaven,  and  yet  in 
another  there  is.  There  will  be  no  movable  tem- 
ple like  that  erected  by  Moses.  There  will  be  no 
material  and  perishable  fixed  temple  like  the  one 
built  by  Solomon.  In  his  vision  of  the  New  Je- 
rusalem, John  says:  "I  saw  no  temple  therein." 
And  yet  there  was  a  temple,  nevertheless,  for  he 
immediately  adds:  "  The  Lord  God  Almighty  and 
the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it."  It  is  hard  for  us 
to  conceive  of  such  high  things,  but  in  some  sense 
God  and  the  Lamb  are  a  temple  to  the  finally  re- 
deemed, where  the  Saviour  and  the  saved  come 
together  in  ineffable  communion,  compassed  about 
by  infinite  Godhead  as  a  grand  eternal  temple-en- 
closure. Meeting,  union,  worship,  oneness,  deep- 
est fellowship,  hidden  in  the  mysteries,  light,  and 
undisturbed  manifestations  and  enjoyments  of  God 
and  our  Saviour,  are  the  main  ideas.  And  into 
this  holy  temple  the  Christian  victor  is  to  come  as 
a  worshipper,  to  drink  in  of  this  ineffable  light, 
and  to  share  the  fulness  of  this  unspeakable  be- 
atitude. 

Nor  only  as  a  worshipper,  but  as  a  perpetual 
dweller,  shall  the  Christian  victor  come  into  the 
heavenly  temple;  for  ^^  he  shall  go  no  more  otity 
The  temple  and  the  worship  and  the  blessedness 
and  the  continuance  in  it  are  alike  perpetual.  As 
Christ  dwells  in  the  Father,  so  we  are  to  dwell  in 


228  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Him,  with  the  union  and  the  glory  indissoluble 
for  ever.  The  priests  of  the  earthly  temple  served 
by  courses.  Bach  course  served  its  time,  and  then 
went  out.  "They  truly  were  many  priests,  be- 
cause they  were  not  suffered  to  continue  by  reason 
of  death."  But  it  shall  not  be  so  with  the  Chris- 
tian victor  in  the  eternal  temple.  Like  his  Lord, 
"he  continueth  ever,"  and  his  priesthood  passeth 
not  from  one  to  another,  for  death,  infirmity,  or 
need  for  suspension  in  the  holy  service  is  departed. 
No  sickness  shall  prostrate  him,  no  labor  exhaust 
his  energies,  no  lapse  of  time  waste  his  strength, 
no  cause  come  in  for  the  cessation  of  the  blessed 
communion.  Sweet  was  the  life  of  our  first  pa- 
rents in  Paradise,  but  the  time  came  when  they 
had  to  leave  it  and  go  out  to  moisten  the  desert 
world  with  their  sweat  and  tears,  and  find  graves 
under  its  sod.  But  from  that  more  glorious  para- 
dise restored  by  the  heroism  of  our  blessed  Lord 
there  shall  be  no  more  such  failures,  no  more  such 
going  out.  The  temple  is  eternal,  the  anthems 
never  cease,  the  worship  is  never  suspended,  and 
the  communion  is  everlasting. 

Nor  yet  as  only  a  permanent  dweller  in  the 
heavenly  temple,  but  as  a  pillar  in  it,  shall  the 
Christian  victor  abide. 

Pillars  are  for  strength,  support,  ornament,  and 
commemoration.  The)-  are  part  of  the  edifice  in 
which  they  have  place.     The  derivation  of  the 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        229 

word  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  seems  to  contemplate 
power,  dignity,  and  glory.  The  Clinrch  is  called 
the  pillar,  support,  and  upholder  of  the  truth,  to 
give  it  conspicuity  and  to  keep  it  in  the  view  of 
men.  Peter,  James,  and  John  are  spoken  of  as 
seeming  "pillars"  of  the  Church;  that  is,  its 
most  conspicuous  members  and  strongest  sup- 
ports. And  so  the  victorious  saints  are  to  be 
pillars  in  the  eternal  temple,  to  have  place  as  a 
part  of  it.  As  God  and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple, 
they  are  to  be  joined  to  God  and  the  Lamb  and 
stand  in  and  with  them  for  ever  as  dignities,  orna- 
ments, and  everlasting  commemorations  of  re- 
deeming love  and  grace,  sharing  in  all  the  honor 
and  glory  of  that  temple  and  in  the  upholding 
and  administration  of  its  services. 

God  honors  His  faithful  people  by  resting  much 
of  the  burden  and  exhibit  of  His  Name  and  work 
upon  them  already  in  tliis  world,  but  a  thousand- 
fold more  in  the  world  to  come.  Man  was  origin- 
ally  made  to  be  the  expression  or  image  of  God 
in  the  lordship  and  governing  of  His  earthly  cre- 
ations. What  was  lost  by  sin  is  recovered  in  still 
higher  forms  by  redemption.  And  when  the 
grand  restoration  is  complete  and  the  eternal 
economies  to  which  redemption  looks  shall  come 
into  place,  all  glorious  with  the  divine  presence, 
teeming  with  divine  goodness,  and  working  all 
the  divine  pleasure,  these  trophies  of  grace  shall 


230  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

have  place  in  them  as  pillars  in  a  celestial  temple, 
bearing  up  its  excellent  estate,  preserving  and  ad- 
ministering its  order,  showing  forth  its  glory,  and 
sharing  in  all  its  blessed  service. 

And  there  their  place  shall  ever  be.  They 
shall  never  move  or  be  severed  from  the  eternal 
fabric.  Other  pillars  may  crumble  and  fall;  the 
strongest  and  most  admired  columns  may  waste 
and  disappear;  the  gates  of  Thebes,  the  Pyramids 
of  Egypt,  and  the  mightiest  architectural  monu- 
ments in  the  world  may  be  erased  from  their 
places;  the  very  pillars  of  the  earth  may  be  dis- 
solved; but  these  pillars,  which  Christ  is  engaged 
in  building  and  fashioning  amid  these  years  of 
time,  borrowing  immortality  from  decay  and 
splendor  from  surrounding  darkness,  shall  stand 
in  everlasting  strength,  beauty,  and  dignity  in 
the  imperishable  temple  of  God  and  the  I^amb. 

Second  Item:  ^^I willzvrite  upon  him  the  name 
of  My  Gody 

Though  Christ  is  God,  yet  as  Christ  He  has  a 
God  and  Father,  who  through  Him  is  also  our 
God  and  Father.  The  name  of  that  God  is 
already  put  upon  us  in  holy  baptism,  but  it  is 
not  so  engraved  upon  us  that  it  may  not  be  rub- 
bed off  and  cease  to  be  of  the  significance  intended. 
We  are  only  probationers  here,  candidates  for  sub- 
limer  prizes  when  this  world  is  over.    And  among 


To    THE   CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        23  I 

these  future  honors  and  dignities  is  the  permanent 
engraving  upon  the  final  victor  of  the  name  of 
God  in  all  the  virtues  and  immunities  which  that 
name  can  be  to  an  immortal  man. 

The  high  priest  under  the  law  wore  a  plate  of 
gold  on  his  forehead,  on  which  there  was  in- 
scribed, "  Ho  I J  NESS  UNTO  THE  LoRD. "  It  pro- 
claimed his  dignity  and  sacredness — his  divine 
consecration  to  "bear  the  iniquity  of  the  holy 
things  which  the  children  of  Israel  should  hal- 
low in  all  their  holy  gifts."  The  same  was  to  be 
"always  upon  his  forehead,  that  they  might  be 
accepted  before  the  Lord."  All  this  pointed  pri- 
marily to  Jesus  Christ  as  our  great  High  Priest, 
Sin-bearer,  and  Intercessor,  but  likewise  also  to 
some  eternal  consecration  of  the  glorified  saints 
as  they  are  finally  joined  to  the  heavenly  temple 
as  priests  of  God.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be;  but  we  know  that,  when  He  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  like  Hwt ;  for  we  shall  see 
Him  as  He  is." 

We  are  greatly  at  a  loss  upon  themes  so  lofty. 
We  see  only  as  through  a  glass  darkly.  We  know 
only  in  part.  But  it  is  written  of  the  favored  in- 
habitants of  that  place  where  the  throne  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb  shall  be,  that  they  shall  serve 
God  and  see  His  face,  ' '  and  His  Name  shall  be  in 
their  foreheads. ^^  The  dignity  of  high  priesthood, 
the  freedom  of  unobstructed  access  to  the  divine 


232  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

presence,  the  privilege  of  looking  upon  God's 
face,  and  all  the  liberties  and  prerogatives  of 
admission  into  the  holiest  apartments  of  the  eter- 
nal temple  are  certainly  implied.  As  there  is 
nothing  which  the  Name  of  God  does  not  com- 
mand or  to  which  it  does  not  admit,  so  the  en- 
graving of  that  Name  upon  the  people  of  the 
Church  of  the  first-born  means  a  guarantee  to 
them  of  the  freedom  of  all  the  realm  and  dwell- 
ing-place of  God  as  His  acknowledged  priests  and 
princes,  consecrated  for  the  sublimest  offices  and 
services  of  the  w^orld  to  come. 

Third  Item:  ^^And  I  zvill  write  upoit  him  the 
na7ne  of  the  city  of  My  God^  which  is  New  Jeru- 
salem^ which  Cometh  down  oitt  of  heaven  from  My 
God:' 

There  is  a  modern  sect,  heretical  as  to  some  of 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  faith,  and  offen- 
sively schismatical  as  to  the  proper  Church  of 
Christ,  which  has  presumptuously  and  against 
all  right  appropriated  to  itself  the  title  of  the 
New  Jerusalem,  claiming  that  their  few  modern 
coteries  are  the  true  nucleus,  centre,  and  begin- 
ning of  this  sublime  city  which  cometh  down 
from  God  out  of  heaven.  Unfortunately  for  the 
sober  truthfulness  of  any  such  claim,  this  so-called 
New  Jerusalem  began  on  earth,  sprang  from  a 
half-demented   nobleman    of  the  earth,    who,    to 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        233 

his  credit,  never  attempted  such  an  organization, 
which  is  altogether  of  the  earth,  if  not  largely 
from  under  it.  With  righteous  indignation  at 
such  falsifications  of  God's  holy  word,  and  at 
pretensions  which  savor  more  of  the  beast  cov- 
ered with  names  of  blasphemy  than  of  the  in- 
spiration of  God  which  is  claimed  for  them,  I 
warn  all  whom  I  can  reach  and  influence  to  be- 
ware of  the  subtle  and  good-seeming  perversions 
of  the  truth  by  which  the  father  of  lies  would 
thus  deceive,  if  jDossible,  the  very  elect. 

The  New  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  God,  coming 
down  out  of  heaven  from  God  and  havino-  the 
glory  of  God,  is  not  an  earthly  sect,  and  the 
Church  of  the  true  New  Jerusalem  is  not  an 
organization  of  mortal  men  voicing  the  vagaries 
of  a  diseased  imagination  as  the  infallible  sup- 
plements of  the  Word  of  inspired  prophets  and 
apostles.  The  New  Jerusalem,  God's  city,  where- 
in is  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb  and  the 
issuing  waters  of  life,  is  a  thing  of  the  heavens, 
God-built  and  depending  for  its  revelation  on  the 
personal  coming  again  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  recall 
from  death  the  sleeping  bodies  of  His  saints  and 
fashion  them  like  unto  His  own  grlorious  bodv; 
all  of  which,  in  every  tenable  sense,  is  totally 
denied  and  condemned  by  the  modern  sect  which 
proclaims  itself  the  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

A    city  means   a   city,   not   a   sect.     The   city 


234  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

building  on  earth  is  Babylon,  whose  end  is  de- 
struction; the  city  building  in  heaven  is  the  true 
New  Jerusalem,  which  does  not  come  forth  out 
of  the  brain  of  a  Swedenborg,  but  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  glory  of  God,  by  Him  constructed, 
by  Him  brought  forth  into  its  place,  and  pos- 
sessed only  by  "  the  children  of  the  resurrection  " 
when  all  of  this  present  world  is  past.  Abraham 
looked  for  a  firmly-founded  city  whose  maker  and 
builder  is  God.  Of  the  saints  of  old  it  stands 
written,  "God  hath  prepared  for  them  a  city." 
The  Christians  of  Paul's  day  sought  for  an  abid- 
ing city  in  the  world  to  come.  John  in  his  vis- 
ions beheld  that  city,  that  great  city,  the  holy 
Jerusalem,  descending  out  of  heaven  from  God, 
with  jewels  for  foundations,  gates  of  pearl,  streets 
of  gold,  angels  for  watchmen,  and  God  and  the 
Ivamb  for  its  temple  and  light,  arrayed  in  crystal- 
line glory,  in  which  the  saved  nations  walk,  into 
which  nothing  that  is  false  or  defiling  ever  enters, 
which  only  they  inhabit  who  are  written  in  the 
Lamb's  book  of  life,  and  from  which  they  shall 
reign  for  ever  and  ever.  And  the  name  of  that 
city  of  light  and  glory  and  manifested  Godhead 
Jesus  says  He  will  write  upon  every  one  that 
overcometh,  holding  fast  the  word  of  His  pa- 
tience. 

What  all  that  means  is  more  than  imagination 
can  conceive  or  words  of  man  express.     Many 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  PHILADELPHIA.        235 

also  may  be  the  questions  about  it  to  which  in  our 
present  clouded  and  earthy  condition  we  can  frame 
no  clear  answers.  But  there  is  yet  to  come  forth 
from  heaven  a  new  and  transcendent  common- 
wealth, with  a  new  and  heavenly  metropolis, 
where  all  the  eternal  administrations  are  to  be 
centrt^d  in  God  and  the  lyamb,  and  to  the  full 
liberties  of  which,  as  the  princes  of  the  realm, 
every  member  of  the  Church  of  the  first-born  is 
to  be  sealed  and  acknowledged  when  the  time  for 
the  fulfilment  of  these  promises  arrives. 

Man  was  made  for  heavenly  citizenship,  posses- 
sion, rule,  and  dominion.  The  universal  pursuits 
of  the  world  and  the  strongest  temptations  of  the 
Church  in  its  career  on  earth  do  constantly  and 
mightily  testify  of  this.  And  this  great  end  of 
creation  and  redemption,  and  this  unquenchable 
thirst  of  the  human  heart,  are  to  find  their  con- 
summation in  the  kingdom  to  come,  especially  in 
its  capital  city,  the  New  Jerusalem,  which  cometh 
forth  from  God.  And  the  name  of  that  city  is  to 
be  so  engraven  upon  every  victorious  saint  that 
there  can  be  no  more  separation  between  him  and 
it.  His  home,  his  reward,  his  sublime  dignity, 
and  his  eternal  joy  are  to  be  there,  full  in  his  pos- 
session for  ever.  Even  so,  and  so  precious,  is  to 
be  the  portion  of  him  who  keeps  the  word  of 
Christ's  patience  and  comes  off  victor  in  these 
earthly  strifes  with  error  and  sin. 


236  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Fourth  Item:  "/  zvill  write  upon  him  My 
new  name^ 

Believers  bear  the  name  of  Christ  now.  They 
are  baptized  into  His  Name  as  the  Christ,  the  Sin- 
bearer,  the  Redeemer,  the  true  and  anointed  L/ord 
and  Saviour,  in  whom  all  our  hopes  of  forgiveness 
and  eternal  life  inhere.  Before  He  was  born  in 
time  it  was  said,  "Call  His  name  jESUS,  for  He 
shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins."  Nor  will 
He  ever  lose  or  lay  off  this  name,  for  it  is  ordained 
"  that  at  the  name  of  JKSUS  every  knee  shall  bow, 
of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in.  earth,  and 
things  under  the  earth,  and  every  tongue  confess 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father."  But  in  the  final  accomplishment  of  all 
this  He  will  yet  take  on  other  names  by  which 
He  is  not  now  known.  When  He  comes  forth  in 
His  majesty,  with  all  the  armies  of  heaven  follow- 
ing Him  on  white  horses,  for  the  final  overthrow 
of  the  Beast  and  the  false  prophet.  He  shall  have 
on  His  vesture  and  on  His  thigh  a  name  written, 
"King  of  kings,  and  IvOrd  of  i.ords."  At 
the  same  time  He  is  also  to  have  another  name 
written,  "a  name  that  no  man  knows  but  He 
Himself."  Whether  it  is  one  of  these  names  or 
some  altogether  "new  name"  that  He  is  to  en- 
grave upon  His  triumphant  saints,  we  know  not. 
This  only  we  know,  that  the  time  is  drawing  on 
when  our  blessed  I^ord  shall  take  to  Himself  some 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        237 

"new  name"  in  connection  with  some  unex- 
plained development  in'  the  completion  of  His 
grand  redemptive  purposes,  and  that  He  will 
write  that  name  also  upon  His  victorious  saints, 
thereby  uniting  them  with  Himself  for  ever  in 
whatever  dignity,  service,  or  glory  that  name 
shall  signify. 

The  riches  in  Christ  Jesus,  especially  in  the 
purposes  and  manifestations  relating  to  the  fin- 
ishing up  of  what  is  to  come  hereafter,  have  not 
yet  been  fully  revealed.  Transcendent  things, 
and  in  plentiful  sufficiency  for  all  our  present 
wants,  have  been  made  known  to  us.  There  is 
everything  to  enlist  our  faith,  command  our  con- 
fidence, and  inspire  us  with  transporting  hopes. 
But  we  do  not  yet  know  all.  There  is  much  be- 
yond which  can  only  be  learned  and  fully  under- 
stood when  the  time  for  their  revelation  comes. 
Yet,  whatever  these  future  developments  and  mani- 
festations may  be,  or  whatever  unexplained  atti- 
tudes our  Saviour  is  yet  to  take  in  the  ongoing  of 
His  purposes  in  eternity,  the  pledge  here  is  given 
by  Himself  that  His  saints  shall  be  joined  with 
Him  in  all.  As  His  present  name  is  on  us,  seal- 
ing to  us  participation  in  all  that  He  has  achieved 
and  is  achieving,  so  whatever  new  name  He  shall 
assume  in  the  future  is  likewise  to  be  engraved  on 
His  faithful  ones,  identifying  them  with  Himself 
in   all.     Wherever   He    is,   there    we    are    to   be. 


238  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

Whatever  He  does,  we  shall  have  part  in.  And 
throughout  all  the  eternal  ages  and  administra- 
tions His  name  shall  be  our  name  also,  and  His 
lot  likewise  our  lot;  for  our  heirship  is  conjoint 
with  His  own  to  the  eternal  patrimony. 

Think  of  the  mighty  possibilities  in  the  eternal 
career  of  Him  to  whom  all  power  in  heaven  and 
earth  is  given!  Think  what  undescribed  demon- 
strations may  yet  be  manifested  in  connection 
with  the  stupendous  scheme  of  the  redemption 
and  regeneration  of  a  fallen  world,  and  what  sub- 
lime ends  in  the  vast  universe  the  final  accom- 
plishment of  this  masterpiece  of  the  Almighty's 
doings  may  be  intended  to  subserve!  Think  what 
in  the  grand  purposes  of  God  may  be  in  contem- 
plation with  reference  to  the  future  of  this  earth, 
or  thousands  of  other  worlds,  or  all  the  boundless 
realm  of  living  beings  of  which  Christ  is  to  be 
the  centre  and  the  soul!  Paul  distinctly  refers  to 
a  mysterious  concorporation  of  worlds  and  a  gath- 
ering together  of  all  thino-s  in  heaven  and  on  earth 
in  one  sublime  unity  in  Christ,  and  of  eternal  pur- 
poses in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  affecting  celestial 
principalities  and  powers,  for  which  there  must 
come  exhibits  on  His  part  far  beyond  all  present 
knowledge  and  anticipation.  And  yet  in  all  these 
unsearchable  cycles  of  manifestation  and  achieve- 
ment by  our  Christ  the  promise  here  is  that  the 
Church  of  the  first-born,  which  is  His  everlasting 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  PHILADELPHIA.        239 

Bride,  shall  share  with  Him  in  the  kingdom  and 
the  power  and  the  glory;  for  His  New  Name  is 
to  be  written  on  all  His  victorious  people  as  par- 
ticipant in  whatever  destiny  is  before  Him  in  all 
the  ages  of  the  ages. 

Verily,  dear  friends,  Jesus  has  given  us  "ex- 
ceeding great  and  precious  promises.''  In  vain 
do  we  task  ourselves  to  compass  the  vastness  of 
their  import.  Imagination  reels  and  falters, 
stunned  and  vanquished,  amid  the  infinitudes 
of  glory  and  blessedness  which  they  open  to 
our  contemplation. 

And  if  such  are  to  be  the  awards  to  faith  in 
Jesus  and  close  clinging  to  Him  and  His  word 
and  directions  for  the  few  years  we  have  to  live 
on  earth,  what  is  there  in  all  the  round  of  possi- 
ble things  for  which  we  would  be  justified  in  let- 
ting go  our  chance  to  reach  them  ?  Well  may 
Heaven  speak  out  i.ts  intense  sevenfold  appeal: 
''//^  that  hatJi  an  ear  to  hear^  let  him  hear  ivJiat 
the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches^  God  help  us 
all  to  hear  and  heed,  and  hold  fast  the  word  of 
our  Saviour's  patience,  that  we  may  not  miss  a. 
destiny  so  exalted  and  which  has  cost  our  dear 
lyord  so  much! 


Hecture  jfiitttnti). 

Rev.  3  :  14:  "And  unto  the  angel  of  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans 
write  :  These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and  true  Witness,  the 
beginning  of  the  creation  of  God." 

IE  now  come  to  the  last  of  these  seven 
Letters  of  our  Lord.  Let  us  then  give 
attention  with  prayerfuhiess  of  heart  and 
desire  to  profit.  It  is  our  wish  to  be  in  accord 
with  the  mind  and  will  of  our  Saviour.  What 
is  wrong  in  us  we  desire  to  have  corrected.  We 
are  anxious  to  be  true  Christians,  that  when  the 
Master  comes  we  may  be  found  of  Him  without 
spot  and  blameless.  We  know  ourselves  to  be 
set  in  the  midst  of  so  many  trials,  temptations, 
and  dangers  that  we  would  gladly  have  some 
words  of  comfort,  direction,  and  encouragement 
from  Jesus  Himself,  that  we  may  be  helped  and 
assured  in  our  faith  and  led  into  the  path  of  se- 
curity and  eternal  life.  Nowhere,  however,  can 
we  find  what  we  need  more  beautifully  set  forth 
than  in  these  Letters  from  heaven.  And  this  to 
"the  church  of  the  Laodiceans"  should  specially 
enlist  us,  for  the  reason  that  it  refers  more  than 
either  of  the  others  to  the  Church  of  our  times, 

240 


TO    THE    CJJL'RCn   OF  LAODICEA.  24 1 

giving  US  Christ's  judgment  of  the  dangers  and 
duties,  the  situation  and  wants,  of  the  Christen- 
dom of  which  we  are  a  part. 

These  seven  addresses  were  originally  made  to 
seven  particular  churclies  as  then  existing,  but 
those  churches  were  selected  from  among  the  rest 
because  they  so  well  represented  the  whole  Church 
from  the  time  of  the  apostles  onward  to  the  end. 
Hence  the  command  to  the  people  of  every  age  to 
"hear  w^hat  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches." 
In  all  time  there  will  be  people  in  the  Church 
answering  to  the  descriptions  in  these  several 
Letters,  who  may  here  see  what  the  Lord's 
judgment  of  them  is.  But  while  every  church 
has  something  of  these  seven  churches  in  it,  these 
utterances  of  Jesus  also  indicate  the  characteris- 
tics of  seven  successive  periods  in  the  Church's 
history,  beginning  with  the  time  of  John  and  ex- 
tending to  the  final  consummation.  That  is  to 
say,  they  were  meant  to  be  prophetic  as  well  as 
historic,  and  the  course  of  their  fulfilment  can  be 
readily  traced. 

First  was  the  Ephesiafi  period — a  period  of 
warmth  and  love  and  labor  for  Christ,  dating 
from  the  apostles,  but  in  which  the  leaven  of 
evil  alreadv  bcQ^an  to  work,  showang^  itself  in  the 
gradual  cooling  of  the  love  and  zeal  of  some,  the 
false  professions  of  others,  and  the  incoming  of 
undue  manifestations  of  carnal  ambition. 

16 


242  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Then  came  the  Smyrna  period — the  period  of 
bitterness  for  the  Church  in  its  last  severe  strug- 
gles with  heathen  Rome,  the  era  of  bloody  mar- 
tyrdom and  of  the  sweet  savor  unto  God  of  faith- 
fulness unto  death;  but  marked  also  with  further 
elements  of  defection  and  departures  from  the 
original  simplicities  of  the  Gospel,  which  reached 
their  height  during  the  early  part  of  the  fourth 
century. 

Then  followed  the  Pergamite  period,  in  which 
true  faith  more  and  more  disappeared  and  clerical- 
ism gradually  formed  itself  into  a  dominating  sys- 
tem, and  the  Church  entered  into  a  marriage  re- 
lation with  the  powers  of  this  world. 

Then  came  the  Thyatirian  period — the  age  of 
purple  and  glory  for  the  corrupt  and  ambitious 
priesthood  and  of  obscuration  to  the  pure  evan- 
gelic truth — the  age  of  effeminacy  and  clerical 
domination,  when  the  Church  usurped  the  place 
of  Christ  and  many  of  the  true  witnesses  of  Jesus 
were  given  to  dungeons,  stakes,  and  inquisitions 
— the  age  of  the  enthronement  of  the  false  proph- 
etess, whose  oppressive  dominion  extended  to  the 
days  of  Luther  and  the  Reformation. 

Then  came  the  Sardian  period — the  age  of 
separation  and  some  vigorous  return  to  the  rule 
of  Christ — the  age  of  a  new  beginning,  largely 
freed  from  the  Balaamitic  doctrines,  the  Nicolai- 
tan  tenets,  and  the  fornications  of  Jezebel — an  age 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  243 

of  many  worthy  names  that  will  never  die,  bnt 
withal  marked  with  deadness  in  its  tendencies  and 
developing  mncli  to  be  repented  of — an  age  cover- 
ing the  spiritnal  lethargy  of  the  Protestant  cen- 
turies preceding  the  great  evangelical  movements 
of  the  last  hundred  years. 

Then  came  the  PJiiladclphian  era,  marked  by  a 
closer  adherence  to  the  Word  in  its  practical  bear- 
ings, more  fraternity  among  professed  Christians, 
and  a  livelier  philanthropy  toward  the  suffering 
and  ignorant;  but  now  rapidly  giving  place  to 
the  last  phase  or  period  of  the  Church  upon  earth, 
with  which  its  whole  history  in  this  world  will 
end  and  the  dispensations  of  the  great  judgment 
take  its  place. 

The  Laodicean  period  is  therefore  that  in  which 
we  are  now  living;  so  that  what  the  Saviour  says 
to  the  church  of  the  Laodiceans  He  says  particu- 
larly to  us  and  to  the  church-people  of  our  time. 
Having  ears  to  hear,  we  should  therefore  be  all 
the  more  quickened  to  hear,  mark,  learn,  and  in- 
wardly digest  what  the  Spirit  here  saith.  And 
may  the  good  Lord  help  us  to  hear  to  our  profit 
and  to  the  saving  of  our  souls  from  the  judgment- 
disasters  which  must  soon  overtake  this  wicked 
and  unbelieving  world! 

The  particular  part  of  the  Saviour's  Letter  to 
the  church  of  the  Laodiceans  now  to  be  consid- 


244  ^-^^'   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ered  is  His  own  description  of  Himself.  He  had 
previously  described  Himself  as  "  He  that  hold- 
eth  the  seven  stars  in  His  right  hand,  who  walk- 
eth  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks;" 
"The  first  and  the  last,  which  was  dead,  and  is 
alive;"  "He  which  hath  the  sharp  sword  with 
two  edges;"  "The  Son  of  God,  who  hath  eyes 
like  unto  a  flame  of  fire  and  feet  like  fine  brass;" 
"He  that  hath  the  seven  spirits  of  God  and  the 
seven  stars;"  "He  that  is  holy,  He  that  is  true, 
He  that  hath  the  key  of  David,  He  that  openeth, 
and  no  man  shutteth,  and  shutteth,  and  no  man 
openeth."  Wonderful  depths  of  solemn  majesty, 
experience,  office,  power,  and  glory  are  thus  pro- 
fessed and  claimed,  to  which  He  here  adds  that 
He  is  ^^  the  Ainen^  the  faithful  and  true  Witness^ 
the  Beginning  of  the  creation  of  God. ' '  And  of 
all  the  several  descriptions  this  last  is  the  deepest 
and  intensest,  and  demands  our  special  attention. 
Three  things  does  our  blessed  Saviour  thus 
affirm  of  Himself: 

1.  The  Amen. 

"Amen  "  is  one  of  those  peculiarly  sacred  words 
reasonably  supposed  to  have  originated  in  heaven. 
It  was  constantly  on  the  lips  of  the  Saviour  in  His 
most  solemn  enunciations.  Wherever  the  words 
"Verily,  verily,"  occur,  the  original  is  always 
Anien^  amen.     From  our  first  meeting  with  this 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  245 

word  in  the  Scriptures  to  the  end  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse, whether  on  earth  or  in  heaven,  it  comes 
before  us  as  a  word  of  intensest  sacred ness,  rati- 
fication, and  certified  reality.  It  means  So  be  it. 
It  is  the  sealing  word  to  all  the  Gospels  and  Epis- 
tles. It  is  not  an  oath,  yet  it  has  much  of  the 
solemnity  and  force  of  an  oath.  It  contains  no 
adjuration  or  appeal,  yet  it  authenticates,  confirms, 
binds,  seals,  and  pledges  to  the  truth  of  that  to 
which  it  is  affixed.  Paul  says  that  all  the  prom- 
ises of  God  in  Christ  are  "  yea,  and  in  Him  amen;" 
that  is,  absolutely  true,  positive,  irreversible,  and 
certain  over  against  all  that  is  yea  and  nay,  change- 
able, doubtful,  unreliable,  uncertain.  The  amen 
of  a  thing  is  its  unalterable  reality  concentrated 
and  carried  in  one  brief  expression.  It  is  the  sub- 
stantiation of  its  veriest  truth.  And  when  our 
Saviour  thus  styles  Himself  absolutely  the  Amen^ 
He  presents  Himself  to  us  as  the  profoundest  real- 
ity of  all  revelation  and  promise — the  absolute 
Confirmer,  Ratifier,  and  Consummator  of  all  pro- 
nounced truth — the  very  Truth  of  truth. 

The  exact  force  of  this  sublime  title  has  been  \ 
expressed  as  "  the  be-all,  and  the  end-all."     And 
here  it  is  the  Be-all  and  the  Bnd-all  of  the  whole  ^ 
purpose  of  God. 

Divine  revelation  first  came  in  the  form  of  \ 
promises,  awaiting  their  fulfilment  in  future  time  \ 
on  certain  conditions.     Of  those  promises  Christ  \ 


246  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

^was  the  substance,  and  of  those  conditions  He  is 
the  Fnlfiller,  and  so  is  the  Amen  of  revelation. 
The  promises  displayed  the  goodness,  grace,  and 
love  of  the  Father,  but  the  conditions  of  their  ful- 
filment demanded  a  perfect  righteousness.  This 
no  mere  man  could  ever  render.  Hence  no  mere 
man  could  ever  make  those  promises  hold.  Firm 
as  they  are  on  God's  part,  they  come  to  naught  by 
reason  of  man's  impotency  and  sin.  The  full  obe- 
dience being  wanting,  they  could  not  go  into  effect. 
The  amen  to  them  was  still  needed,  and  that  amen 
came  in  the  person  and  achievements  of  the  Lord 
Jesus. 

Taking  the  form  and  place  of  man,  Christ  ful- 
filled the  condition  of  perfect  obedience,  and  thus 
gave  to  the  promises  effective  life  and  availing 
reality.  Only  in  Him  was  divine  promise  sealed 
unto  living  effect  and  ratified  for  realization. 
From  the  beginning  until  Jesus  on  the  cross  said, 
"  It  is  finished  "  and  entered  upon  His  heavenly 
dominion,  all  the  sacred  utterances  of  prophet, 
patriarch,  priest,  or  forerunner  of  the  Messiah 
were  but  loose  words,  like  the  Sybil's  leaves, 
floating  on  the  winds  and  tides?  It  was  only 
when  the  Christ  came,  gathered  them  all  togeth- 
er, bound  them  all  up  in  His  own  sublime  achieve- 
ments, and  made  them  steadfast  in  His  own  blood 
and  triumph,  that  the  effective  Avien  was  added 
to  them.     Now  thev  are  all  vea  and  amen  in  His 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  247 

ever-living  Self,  certain  and  sure  in  every  partic- 
ular, and  can  no  more  fail  than  He  can  fail  from 
the  majesty  of  His  eternal  dominion.  All  is  real- 
ity now  in  Him,  for  He  is  tJic  Amen. 

n.  The  Faithfui.  and  True  Witness. 

Some  have  taken  this  as  a  mere  repetition  in 
another  form  of  what  was  expressed  in  calling 
Himself  the  Amen.  But  the  glorious  Son  of 
God  never  deals  in  meaningless  tautology.  His 
being  the  Amen  is  one  thing;  His  being  "the 
faithful  and  true  Witness"  is  another;  and  we 
must  not  confound  together  things  that  differ. 

Christ  is  the  Amen  as  the  substantiator  and  con- 
summator  of  all  that  is  promised ;  He  is  the  faith-  \ 
fill  and  true  Witness  in  the  making  known  to  us  ^ 
of  the  nature,  mind,  and  purposes  of  God.     Hence 
in  the  bcQ^inninor  of  this  book  He  is  called  "the  . 
faithful  Witness  "  with  reference  to  the  revelations  - 
given  in  this  book,  as  given  by  His  authority  and    „ 
on  His  credibility. 

The  scriptural  conception  of  a  witness  is  one 
who  orives  testimonv  to  what  he  has  seen  and 
knows.  In  this  sense  John  the  Baptist  bore  wit- 
ness to  Christ,  and  also  said  of  Him,  "He  that 
Cometh  from  heaven  is  above  all,  and  what  He 
hath  seen  and  heard,  that  He  testifieth."  To  the 
same  effect  Jesus  said  of  Himself,  "We  speak  that 
we  do  know,  and  testify  that  we  have  seen  "  (John 


248  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

3:11,  13).  Hence  also  the  record  of  John :  "No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only-begot- 
ten Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He 
hath  declared  Him.''  In  these  and  other  like 
passages  Jesus  is  set  forth  as  tlie  original  and  sole 
Witness  of  all  that  is  known  or  that  can  be  known 
of  God.  Whether  the  revelation  has  been  in  the 
form  of  the  creation-work,  in  the  form  of  the 
Word,  or  in  the  form  of  inward  light,  it  is  only 
through  Christ,  who  is  the  Utterer  and  Revealer 
of  God.  Thus  He  is  tlie  Witness  on  whom  the 
whole  family  of  man  is  dependent  for  what  is 
known  or  knowable  of  the  will  and  purposes  of 
the  eternal  God. 

And  He  is  ^^  "C^^  faithful  and  true  Witness." 
What  He  hath  seen  and  knows  absolutely  He 
testifies  with  completest  fidelity.  He  cannot  be 
mistaken,  because  He  testifies  what  He  hath  seen, 
heard,  and  knows  as  the  Son  of  God  and  the  only- 
begotten  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father;  and  He  can- 
not misrepresent,  because  He  is  the  Truth  itself. 
All  the  qualities  of  a  competent,  faithful,  and  true 
witness  thus  meet  in  Him,  so  that  what  He  wit- 
nesseth  and  speaks  can  be  nothing  but  the  exact 
truth,  on  which  we  may  rely  with  absolute  con- 
fidence. Christ's  word  is  therefore  an  infallible 
word  —  truth  that  must  stand  though  the  sta- 
bilities of  heaven  and  earth  should  break  down 
and  pass  away. 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  249 

III.   The    Beginning  of  the  Creation  of 

God. 

Some  have  ventured  to  construe  this  title  in  a 
way  to  reduce  our  blessed  Lord  to  the  rank  of  a 
mere  creature,  albeit  the  first  and  noblest  of  crea- 
tures. But  the  object  for  which  He  Himself  in- 
troduces it  here  is  to  lift  our  thoughts  and  con- 
ceptions of  Him  infinitely  above  all  creaturehood. 
He  wishes  to  have  it  impressed  upon  us  that  in 
the  sentences  which  He  is  about  to  pronounce  we 
have  to  do  with  One  who  has  the  majesty  and 
power  to  command  and  fashion  all  created  things 
— with  One  who  has  done  it,  even  to  the  bringing 
of  them  into  being — with  One  who  is  the  living, 
active,  and  personal  principle  whence  all  things 
have  proceeded  and  on  which  all  creatures  de- 
pend. 

"  The  Beginning  of  the  creation  of  God  "  is  not 
a  part  of  the  creation  begun,  but  that  which  makes 
the  creation  be — not  He  whom  God  created  first, 
but  He  who  was  the  fountain-source  of  all  God's 
creations,  by  whom  all  things  were  made,  and 
without  whom  there  was  not  anything  made  that 
was  made. 

Such  is  the  uniform  teaching  of  the  Scriptures 
throughout  (see  John  i  :  1-3;  5  :  19;  i  Cor.  8:6; 
Col.  I  :  T2-i6;  Heb.  1:2,  3;  Rev.  i  :  17);  and  so 
it  must  needs  be  in  this  place  also.     Christ  is  like- 


250  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

wise  called  "the  End"  as  well  as  "the  Beein- 
ning,"  and  we  might  therefore  just  as  legitimately 
count  Him  the  last  and  least  of  creatures  as  the 
first  and  greatest  of  them.  God  and  Christ  are 
both  called  Omega,  or  the  End,  because  they  rule 
and  determine  the  end,  which  has  its  principle, 
root,  and  spring  from  them ;  and  so  Christ  is  called 
Alpha,  or  the  Beginning,  from  having  been  the 
causative  Beginner,  the  living  principle,  root,  and 
spring  of  all  divine  creations.  And  it  is  simply 
impossible  to  suppose  that  He  who  everywhere 
comes  forth  to  establish  His  perfect  oneness  with 
the  Father  should  here  fix  an  impassable  gulf  of 
separation  between  them. 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  Jesus  is,  and  wishes 
us  to  regard  Him  as,  verily  the  Source  and  Master 
of  all  created  things,  having  everything  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  under  His  dominion  and  control.  He 
would  have  us  understand  and  know  that  creation 
had  a  beginning,  and  that  He  was  the  Beginner 
of  it.  He  would  have  us  understand  and  know 
that  there  is  a  Power  back  of  all  the  laws  of  na- 
ture, and  that  He  is  that  Power,  as  potent  in  all 
parts  of  creation  as  in  the  econom}^  of  grace  and 
salvation.  He  would  have  us  understand  and 
know  that  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was  also  its 
Creator,  that  all  its  destiny  hangs  on  Him,  and 
that  the  time  must  come  when  wind  and  wave 
shall  celebrate  His  glory  and  star  and  flower  and 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  25  I 

gem  silently  luiiiu  His  praise,  and  all  the  earth 
in  final  retrievenient  honor  His  name  alike  as  its 
Source  and  its  Salvation. 

And  a  orreat  thino^  it  is  for  us  to  know  and  un- 
derstand  these  sublime  and  far-reaching  titles  of 
our  Lord  and  Saviour.  It  is  a  great  thing  to 
know  and  understand  from  His  own  lips  that  He 
is  the  Amen,  the  Be-all  and  the  End-all,  of  the 
sacred  promises  and  prophecies — the  Substantiator 
and  Consummator  of  the  gracious  proposals  of 
God  by  fulfilling  in  Himself  all  the  conditions 
which  seal  them  into  everlasting  firmness.  It  is 
a  great  thing  to  know  and  understand  that  He  is 
the  faithful  and  true  Witness,  and  that  His  testi- 
mony concerning  all  divine  things,  past,  present, 
or  to  come,  is  ever  to  be  relied  on  as  the  exact 
truth,  which  nothing  in  time  or  eternity  can 
change,  and  which  must  hold-  and  stand  though 
heaven  and  earth  should  pass  away.  And  it  is 
a  great  thing  to  know  and  understand  that  He  is 
the  Beginning  of  the  creation  of  God — that  it  is 
not  on  an  arm  of  flesh  our  Christian  faith  and 
hopes  are  built — that  the  power  to  save  is  as  un- 
limited as  the  power  to  create — and  that  in  His 
hands  there  can  be  no  failure  in  the  fulfilment  of 
His  promises  or  the  execution  of  His  threaten - 
ings.  And  as  all  this  He  here  presents  Himself 
to  the  church  of  the  lyaodiceans  and  to  us,  that 
we  mav  understand  with  whom  we  have  to  do. 


252  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Dear  friends,  have  we  then  so  learned  Christ? 
If  not,  we  are  not  yet  in  the  right  of  saving  faith. 
We  have  a  great  and  glorious  Saviour,  but  we 
need  to  regard  and  honor  Him  according  to  His 
testimony  of  Himself,  to  think  of  Him  in  holi- 
est reverence,  to  hear  and  heed  His  word,  and  to 
make  sure  of  being  on  such  terms  with  Him  that 
He  may  be  to  us  a  gracious  Deliverer  and  not  an 
avenging  Judge. 


Hcrture  Si^terntl). 

Rev.  3  :  15,  16:  "1  know  thy  works,  that  thou  art  neither  cold  nor 
not :  I  would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot.  So  then,  because  thou  art  luke- 
warm, and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out  of  My  mouth." 

T  is  the  Amen,  the  Truth  of  truth,  our 
Lord  Jesus  Himself,  who  speaks  these 
solemn  words.  They  are  addressed  to 
the  angel,  or  pastor,  of  the  church  in  Laodicea. 
They  express  the  mind  of  the  infallible  Judge 
with  regard  to  the  spiritual  condition  of  this  man 
and  of  the  church  to  which  he  ministered. 

Very  high  authority  asserts  that  Archippus, 
whom  Paul  called  his  fellow-soldier,  was  the 
person  here  addres.sed.  If  such  be  the  fact,  we 
find  certain  doubts  about  him  before  this.  The 
apostle  Paul  sent  a  message  to  him  by  the  Colos- 
sians  to  the  effect:  "  Say  to  Archippus,  Take  heed 
to  the  ministry  which  thou  hast  received  in  the 
Lord,  that  thou  fulfil  it."  This  suggests  that  the 
apostle  was  not  quite  satisfied  as  to  the  persevering 
fervor  and  fidelity  of  this  man  in  the  duties  of  his 
office.  At  the  same  time  he  told  the  Colossians 
of  some  "great  conflict,"  some  anxious  misgiv- 

253 


254  ^-^^^   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ing,  he  had  "for  them  at  lyaodicea;"  which  in- 
dicates not  only  his  great  interest  in  them,  but 
that  the  tendency  of  things  there  was  not  alto- 
gether what  it  should  have  been.  And  here,  in 
this  lyctter,  the  Saviour  Himself  gives  judgment 
that  both  pastor  and  people  were  alike  very  defi- 
cient in  the  deeper  spiritual  elements  of  religion, 
and  that,  with  all  their  wealth  and  outward  pros- 
perity, there  was  nothing  to  be  said  in  commen- 
dation of  their  spiritual  condition. 

In  the  verses  now  before  us  three  states  or 
phases  of  life  with  respect  to  Christianity  are 
described,  accompanied  with  indications  of  the 
divine  mind  and  judgment  with  regard  to 
them: 

I.  A  State  of  Coldness; 
II.  A  State  of  Warmth; 
III.  A  State  of  IvUkewarmness. 

I.  What,  then,  are  we  to  understand  by  the 
state  of  coldness?  The  language  is  figurative, 
and  must  be  interpreted  accordingly;  but  there 
is  no  need  that  we  should  dwell  long  on  explana- 
tions. O/fl^  describes  a  negative  condition;  it  is 
simply  the  absence  of  heat.  And  to  be  in  a  state 
of  coldness  with  regard  to  Christian  life,  duty, 
and  experience  is  to  be  in  a  condition  untouched 
by  the  powers  of  grace.  It  describes  those  quite 
outside  of  the  kingdom  of  God — those  who  have 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  255 

never  heard  the  Gospel — those  who  make  no  pro- 
fession of  faith  in  it — those  having  no  pretensions 
to  Christian  life  and  experience.  Of  this  class 
were  the  pnblicans  and  harlots  in  the  days  of 
Christ. 

There  are  always  and  everywhere  very  many 
of  this  class.  We  all  know  of  people  who  care 
nothing  for  religion,  pay  no  attention  to  it,  live 
as  if  it  were  nothing  bnt  fable,  priestcraft,  and 
superstition,  and  stand  aloof  from  the  Church  and 
all  Christian  associations  and  obligations.  All 
such  are  ^^  cold^  They  are  said  to  be  cold,  be- 
cause they  have  never  been  warmed  by  Christian 
truth,  never  been  moved  to  Christian  life,  pro- 
fession, or  endeavor,  and  live  along  in  the  spirit- 
ual deadness  of  carnal  nature  without  regard  to 
any  claims  of  God  or  any  attempt  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  offers  that  come  forth  through  the 
Gospel. 

We  are  also  very  well  assured  that  this  is  not  at 
all  a  state  which  the  great  Judge  approves  or  in 
which  He  wishes  people  to  be.  The  whole  pur- 
pose for  which  Christ  came  into  the  world,  suf- 
fered, died,  rose  again,  appointed  His  Church, 
commissioned  His  ministers,  and  sent  forth  His 
Word  and  S|)irit  is  to  bring  people  out  of  their 
dead  coldness  in  sin  and  to  warm  them  into  ani- 
mate and  living  children  of  the  living  God.  The 
Scriptures  everywhere  assure  us  that  those  who 


256  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

abide  in  this  coldness  are  in  a  state  of  death  and 
condemnation,  and  that  until  they  are  touched, 
warmed,  and  quickened  by  the  powers  of  divine 
grace,  and  animated  to  living  faith  and  Gospel 
obedience,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  them. 

II.  It  is  therefore  easy  to  see  also  what  it  is  to 
be  in  a  state  of  ivarmth.  It  is  the  opposite  of 
coldness.  We  have  a  marked  instance  of  it  in 
the  chanp^e  wrous^ht  in  the  sardonic  Zaccheus. 
He  was  a  bad  man,  and  so  was  very  cold ;  but  he 
was  warmed.  When  he  encountered  the  holy  love 
and  tender  sympathy  and  moving  look  and  gra- 
cious words  of  Him  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost,  he  was  touched  and  deeply 
affected.  He  was  made  to  feel  that  he  was  not 
only  hated  and  despised,  but  that  there  was  con- 
sideration and  hope  for  even  so  great  a  sinner  as 
he  had  been.  His  morose  and  avaricious  heart 
opened  to  the  presentations  of  a  new  spirit  which 
drove  out  of  him  his  old  bitterness  and  revenge- 
ful injustice,  so  that  the  acrid  waters  of  his  soul 
began  to  clear  in  the  calm  sunshine  of  heavenlv 
purity  and  affection.  He  began  to  see  and  realize 
the  blessed  Saviour's  character  and  mission  as 
never  before,  and  he  became  alive  to  it.  The 
heavenly  goodness  took  hold  of  him,  moved  him, 
and  so  warmed  him  toward  itself  that  he  at  once 
set  about  making  restitution  to  those  whom  he 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LA  01)  ICE  A.  2$/ 

had  wronged,  welcomed  the  merciful  Jesus  as  his 
guest,  and  became  a  child  of  God  to  whose  hard 
heart  and  godless  home  salvation  had  come.  From 
utter  coldness  he  had  become  warm. 

It  was  the  same  in  the  case  of  Saul  of  Tarsus. 
He  was  very  bitter  cold  toward  Christ,  but  he  be- 
came entirely  changed.  Convinced  and  moved  by 
the  vision  and  word  of  Jesus,  he  turned  from  his 
malignant  hatred  and  persecution,  submitted  •  to 
the  despised  Nazarene  as  his  Lord  and  Saviour, 
and  set  himself  to  serve  the  Master  with  a  zeal 
and  earnestness  which  nothing  could  cool  or  turn. 
He  even  counted  all  things  but  refuse  that  he 
might  serve  Christ  and  finish  his  course  with  ac- 
ceptance to  the  glorious  Redeemer  whose  cause  he 
espoused.      He  was  completely  warmed. 

So  it  was  with  the  patriarchs,  who  received  the 
promises  and  were  persuaded  of  them,  and  em- 
braced them,  and  confessed  that  the\-  were  stran- 
gers and  pilgrims  on  the  earth,  looking  for  an 
abiding  city  whose  maker  and  builder  is  God. 

So  it  was  with  Moses,  who  chose  rather  to  suf- 
fer affliction  with  the  people  of  God  than  to  enjoy 
the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season,  and  ever  endured 
as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible. 

So  it  was  with  the  prophets,  apostles,  and  holy 
martyrs,  and  hundreds  and  thousands  in  every 
age,  who  forsook  the  ways  of  the  wicked  and 
joyed  to  cleave  to  the  testimony  of  God  against 

17 


258  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

all  liiiidrances  and  sufferings,  if  that  by  any  means 
they  might  attain  to  the  better  resurrection. 

And  so  it  is  still  with  those  who  hear  the  word, 
and  in  good  and  honest  hearts  keep  it  and  make 
it  their  meat  and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  the  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.  All  these,  though  once  cold, 
came  to  be  of  the  company  and  congregation  of 
the  zvarm^  whose  hearts  were  touched  and  kindled 
with  the  love  of  God,  and  whose  whole  nature 
was  made  to  glow  with  zeal  and.  fervency  in  their 
high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  how  those  in 
such  a  state  t)f  mind  and  heart  are  regarded  by  the 
great  Judge.  It  is  to  all  such  that  the  promise  is, 
"  Fear  not,  little  flock;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good 
pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom. ' ' 

III.  But  the  Saviour  here  speaks  of  still  another 
state  or  phase  of  life  respecting  Christianity — a 
state  in  which  there  is  neither  cold  nor  heat,  but 
a  condition  intermediate  between  the  two — a  state 
of  lukewarmness.     What,  then,  is  this  ? 

One  who  is  lukewarm  is  one  who  has  been  par- 
tially warmed,  and  is  no  longer  in  a  state  of  cold- 
ness. If  coldness  denotes  a  condition  where  grace 
has  made  no  impresssion  at  all,  a  state  of  total 
deadness  to  Christian  influences  and  requirements, 
then  hikezvarmness  must  denote  a  condition  in 
which  there  has  been  some  kindling  to  divine 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  259 

truth,  some  wanning  to  the  presentations  of  the 
Gospel,  and  a  partial  answering  to  its  calls  and 
claims. 

To  be  lukewarm  a  man  must  be  partly  zvarm. 
The  powers  of  grace  must  have  made  some  per- 
ceptible impression  upon  him.  He  must  be  in 
some  measure  a  Christian,  interested  in  sacred 
matters,  and  somewhat  on  in  Christian  profession 
and  life.  There  must  be  something  of  Christian- 
ity in  him,  or  he  would  have  no  warmth  at  all, 
and  hence  could  not  be  said  to  be  lukewarm. 

All  the  persons  addressed  in  the  text  were  pro- 
fessed believers.  They  had  taken  upon  them  the 
Christian  profession.  They  had  been  baptized 
and  had  accepted  position  as  members  of  the 
Church.  They  confessed  Christ  as  their  Saviour, 
wore  the  badge  of  discipleship,  and  had  ranged 
themselves  in  the  line  of  Christian  obedience  and 
duty.  Otherwise  they  could  not  have  been  rated 
as  part  and  parcel  of  the  church  in  lyaodicea.  Nor 
were  they  without  a  degree  of  seriousness  in  the 
matter,  or  they  could  not  have  been  spoken  of  as 
partially  warm.  And  yet  they  were  not  up  to 
the  standard  of  earnestness,  zeal,  devotion,  and 
faithfulness  to  entitle  them  to  be  considered  true 
and  consistent  members  of  Christ. 

Now,  there  are  very  many  ways  in  which  peo- 
ple may  be  partial  Christians,  largely  under  the 
influence  of  Christianity,  and  rated  with  the  pious 


26o  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

part  of  the  community,  while  yet  very  far  from 
being  such  Christians  as  Christ  can  accept  and 
approve. 

Many  consider  themselves  Christians,  and  Chris- 
tians of  the  better  sort,  who  are  quite  indifferent 
to  the  doctrines  they  hold.  They  make  nothing 
of  creed,  despise  it,  and  want  nothing  to  do  with 
those  who  are  in  any  wise  strict  and  earnest  about 
it.  If  only  people  will  be  good,  virtuous,  chari- 
table, and  kind  to  everybody,  they  think  the  great 
thing  in  religion  has  been  reached,  no  matter  what 
they  believe  or  to  what  sort  of  creed  they  hold. 
Their  religion  is  a  mere  goodishness,  which  has 
something  of  moral  warmth  in  it,  but  which  when 
tested  is  only  a  tepid  sentimentalism,  having  noth- 
ing of  the  solid  backbone  of  Christianity  in  it. 

Others  are  very  rigid  and  punctilious  about 
sound  doctrine.  They  make  orthodoxy  every- 
thing, and  are  ready  to  fight  and  suffer  for  it,  but 
are  not  so  particular  about  their  lives.  They 
stickle  earnestly  for  the  creed  and  the  unadul- 
terated  truth;  and  so  far  they  are  warm.  But 
when  it  comes  to  orthodoxy  of  practical  godli- 
ness, they  are  anything  but  warm,  and  hence 
must  be  classed  with  the  lukewarm. 

Some  have  right  enough  views  of  things,  and 
feel  quite  properly  with  regard  to  all  the  claims 
and  requirements  of  Christianity,  and  are  ready 
enougli  to  confess  to  their  whole  duty,  being  full 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  26 1 

also  of  serious  self-promises  to  conform  to  what 
they  acknowledge.  And  so  far  they  also  are 
warm,  and  show  it  in  many  ways.  But  they 
never  come  to  the  point  of  making  full  surren- 
der and  honest  endeavor  to  live  up  to  their 
knowledge  and  persuasions.  They  have  some 
Christian  warmth,  but  they  are  only  half  warm. 

Many,  again,  are  given  to  a  divided  worship 
and  affection.  I^ike  the  ancient  Jews,  they  wor- 
ship Jehovah,  but  serve  other  gods.  Their  devo- 
tion is  divided  between  God  and  Mammon,  be- 
tween Christ  and  the  world,-  between  living  for 
heaven  and  living  for  self  and  earthly  vanities 
and  gains.  In  some  respects  they  are  warm 
enough  Christians,  but  the  warmth  is  neutral- 
ized by  their  constant  adventures  into  a  temper- 
ature in  which  there  is  nothing  of  Christ  or 
Christianity,  and  where  true  piety  cools  and  dies. 
All  their  warmth  is  but  lukewarmness. 

Of  all  states  in  which  any  one  living  can  be, 
this  is  the  worst.  The  Saviour  here  contemplates 
a  complete  coldness  as  less  unfortunate  than  a 
mere  milk-and-water  Christianity:  ^^I ivoiild  that 
thou  ivert  cold  or  hot^  And  the  reasons  are  ob- 
vious. Something  may  be  made  of  the  cold^  and 
there  is  something  of  eternal  worth  in  being  hot^ 
but  to  be  neither  one  nor  the  other  is  sickening 
and  next  thing  to  hopeless.  If  the  warmth 
amounts  merely  to  lukewarmness,  nothing  in  the 


262  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

world  can  be  made  of  it;  and  those  who  have 
reached  it  and  habituated  themselves  to  rest  in  it 
are  worse  off  than  those  who  have  never  been 
reached  by  the  powers  of  grace.  They  certainly 
are  in  a  less  favorable  condition  to  become  thor- 
ough Christians  or  to  be  brought  to  ultimate  sal- 
vation. To  be  religious  without  true  piety,  to  be 
captivated  and  pleased  with  a  profession  which 
does  not  carry  with  it  the  whole  heart  and  life,  to 
count  on  heaven  because  we  are  so  much  better 
than  the  totally  cold  and  unbelieving,  while  yet 
not  up  to  the  standard  of  consistent  Christian 
faithfulness,  shows  a  lack  of  honest  sincerity;  and 
a  lack  of  candor  is  more  in  the  way  of  thorough 
conversion  to  God  than  candid  and  undisguised 
unbelief  A  Saul  of  Tarsus  may  be  a  great  sin- 
ner, but,  being  honest  in  his  wrong,  there  is  some 
moral  leverage  left  by  which  to  bring  him  to  a 
better  life.  But  a  man  who  feels  himself  virtu- 
ous, warm,  and  far  enough  advanced  to  be  cher- 
ishing hopes  of  salvation,  though  really  only  luke- 
warm, never  takes  to  himself  those  truths  and 
arguments  by  which  the  impenitent,  unbelieving, 
and  cold  may  perchance  be  awakened  and  con- 
verted. Efforts  made  to  bring  him  right  he  is 
disposed  to  resent  as  impertinence.  Is  he  not  a 
Christian  ?  Has  he  not  taken  up  the  cross  to  fol- 
low Jesus?  Does  he  not  believe  and  confess  and 
worship  with  the  congregation  of  the  lyord?    And 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  263 

SO  he  is  beyond  the  reach  of  conviction.  Besides, 
there  is  an  offensive  inconsistency  in  willingly 
accepting  so  much,  and  resting  in  it  with  self-sat- 
isfaction without  going  the  whole  length,  which 
grieves  away  those  operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
without  which  no  one  can  come  to  saving  warmth. 
It  is  an  offence  to  the  Lord  Jesus.  And  hence  the 
fearful  threat  of  the  text:  "►S(9  then  because  thou 
art  lukewarm^  and  neither  cold  nor  hot^  I  zvill 
spue  thee  out  of  my  7nouth. ' ' 

A  lukewarm  Christian,  then,  is  not  yet  a  saved 
man.  He  ma}'  be  on  the  way  to  salvation,  and 
lack  but  little  to  bring  him  to  eternal  life,  pro- 
vided he  warms  on  into  the  full  life  of  faith.  No 
one  is  hot  from  the  start.  There  are  many  degrees 
from  cold  to  hot,  and  every  Christian  must  pass 
through  them  all,  including  the  stage  of  luke- 
warmness  also.  But  to  stop  there,  coimting  that 
we  have  come  to  saving  warmth  while  only  luke- 
warm, and  thinking  ourselves  Christians  when  we 
are  only  half-Christians,  is  to  put  ourselves  in  a 
condition  more  dangerous  and  more  certain  of 
failure  than  if  we  had  never  tasted  of  the  heav- 
enly gift  and  never  felt  anything  of  the  constrain- 
ing power  of  the  truth.  There  is  more  hope  for 
the  conversion  and  salvation  of  an  honest  atheist 
than  for  a  spoiled,  half-hearted,  conceited,  and 
self-deceived  religionist.  The  publicans  and  har- 
lots can  more  readily  be  brought  into  the  kingdom 


264  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

of  heaven  than  the  sanctimonious  Pharisees  with 
their  much  fasting-  and  long  prayers  and  loud 
thanksgiving  for  their  supposed  saintship. 

The  lukewarm  Christian  is  a  self-satisfied  per- 
son. He  feels  that  he  is  no  longer  subject  to  the 
shocks  and  charges  which  the  law  fulminates 
against  the  wicked.  He  is  just  warm  and  com- 
fortable enough  to  let  all  the  awakening  terrors 
of  the  Lord  fly  past  him.  He  has  come  so  far  in 
the  line  of  goodness  and  faith  that  he  feels  quite 
sheltered  from  the  dreadful  liabilities  which  hang 
over  the  cold  and  irreligious.  He  has  come  just 
far  enough  to  be  self-secure,  and  so  it  is  next  to 
impossible  to  reach  him  and  bring  him  right. 
The  man  who  knows  himself  to  be  a  sinner,  and 
that  he  has  not  accepted  Christ  as  his  Saviour, 
may  yet  one  day  fall  at  the  Redeemer's  feet.  The 
waves  of  trouble  may  yet  make  him  cry  to  be  led 
to  the  Rock  that  is  higher  than  he.  But  the  self- 
flattered  and  self-satisfied  half-Christian  thinks  he 
has  all  he  needs,  and  cannot  be  so  readily  im- 
pressed, awakened,  and  moved  with  a  sense  of 
what  his  case  requires.  If  he  were  cold^  some- 
thing could  perhaps  be  done  with  him;  and  if 
he  were  hot^  he  would  not  settle  down  in  such 
indolent  self-complacency ;  but  as  he  is  luke- 
warm^  there  is  little  hope  for  him,  except  to  be 
vomited  out  of  the  Saviour's  mouth  and  rejected 
as  a  sickening  and  incorrigible  nondescript. 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  265 

Dear  friends,  these  are  very  solemn  trnths,  and 
we  must  not  put  them  from  us  as  if  they  did  not 
concern  us.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a  time  in 
which  there  was  so  much  half-hearted  and  self- 
satisfied  religion  as  in  our  day.  There  is  an  im- 
mense amount  of  goodishness  which  passes  for 
Christianity,  and  which  greatly  enlists  the  zeal 
of  many,  but  which  is  only  a  mixture  of  half  and 
half,  neither  the  one  thing  nor  the  other.  It  is 
not  irreligion,  for  it  has  much  in  it  that  belongs 
to  genuine  godliness;  but  neither  is  it  out-and-out 
the  religion  of  the  Gospel,  and  multitudes  are  de- 
ceiving themselves  by  it  to  their  everlasting  dis- 
comfiture. 

I  have  said  that  the  Letter  to  the  Laodiceans 
applies  pre-eminently  to  the  Church  of  our  times, 
and  we  have  only  to  look  at  the  condition  of  our 
churches  to  see  that  this  neither-cold-nor-hot  state 
completely  characterizes  the  vast  body  of  what  is 
called  the  religious  part  of  modern  Christendom. 
Of  course  there  are  some  good  and  true  Christians 
whose  hearts  are  warm  and  who  are  living  up  to 
their  profession  the  best  they  can.  Not  every 
member  of  the  church  of  Laodicea  was  only  luke- 
warm. It  is  hardly  possible  for  a  church — if  it  be 
a  church  at  all — to  become  so  weak  and  worldly 
as  not  to  have  in  it  some  in  whom  the  germs  of 
living  faith  survive.  The  dreariest  and  most  bar- 
ren deserts  have  here  and  there  some  show  of  life 


266  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

and  some  feeble,  struggling  flowers.  Where  God's 
word  sounds  the  assurance  is  that  it  shall  not  re- 
turn utterly  void.  Some,  in  the  simplicity  of 
their  hearts,  will  believe  it  and  live  upon  it  as 
the  true  children  of  the  Father.  So  long  as  the 
Church  of  Christ  endures  there  will  be  some  in 
it  who  are  faithful  and  true.  And  when  the  Sa- 
viour spoke  of  the  church  in  Laodicea  as  "  neither 
cold  nor  hot,"  He  did  not  mean  every  individual 
member  of  it  personally.  He  spoke  only  of  the 
prevailing  condition  of  it  as  a  whole — its  general 
state  as  brought  out  in  the  sentiments,  feelings, 
life,  and  character  of  its  most  representative  peo- 
ple. What  He  says  is  that  there  was  far  more 
lukewarmness  and  neither-hot-nor-cold  religion 
among  them  than  there  was  of  sincere,  earnest, 
and  devoted  Christianity — that  in  the  mass  there 
were  a  great  many  more  half-worldly  and  only 
half-Christian  people  among  them  than  of  any 
other  class.  And  just  so  it  is  now.  It  is  not  that 
there  is  no  respect  for  religion;  no  zealous  profes- 
sion; no  holding  to  the  Gospel  as  of  God  and  the 
only  hope  of  man;  no  liberal  giving  and  doing 
for  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the  Church  and  its 
institutions;  no  loud  and  pretentious  activity  in 
what  people  call  Christianity;  no  ready  enroll- 
ment of  multitudes  who  confess  Christ.  In  all 
these  respects  there  is  much  of  which  the  Church 
of  our  day  is  disposed  to  boast  itself  against  the 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  267 

state  of  things  in  other  times  and  ages.  But  the 
point  is,  that  with  all  this  there  is  such  a  mixing 
up  of  worldliness,  worldly  feeling,  worldly  living, 
worldly  thoughts  and  policies,  and  a  worldly  pride 
and  self-satisfaction,  that  in  the  vast  majority  of 
those  who  count  themseU^es  Christians  the  relig- 
ions temper  and  life  stand  at  an  average  of  neither 
cold  nor  hot;  which  is  sickening  to  Christ  and  fast 
tending  to  an  utter  rejection  from  His  acknow- 
ledgment. And  if  we,  dear  friends,  are  disposed 
to  be  satisfied  with  ourselves  and  our  attainments 
in  grace,  with  no  burning  desire  to  improve  upon 
our  Christian  life  and  devotion,  then  are  we  of 
that  same  neither-hot-nor-cold  class,  and  must 
begin  our  work  over  again,  lest  we  be  utterly 
rejected  by  our  I^ord. 


ILecturc  S^benteenti^, 

Rev.  3:  17,  18:  "Because  thou  sayest,  I  am  rich,  and  increased 
with  goods,  and  have  need  of  nothing ;  and  knowest  not  that  thou  art 
wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  bhnd,  and  naked :  I  counsel 
thee  to  buy  of  Me  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  thou  mayest  be  rich ;  and 
white  raiment,  that  thou  mayest  be  clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  thy 
nakedness  do  not  appear ;  and  anoint  thine  eyes  with  eye-salve,  that 
thou  mayest  see." 


AN  is  very  liable  to  be  deceived,  and  as 
liable  to  deceive  himself  as  he  is  to  be 
deceived  by  others.  People  deceive  them- 
selves as  to  their  personal  attractions,  their  men- 
tal powers,  and  the  credit  to  which  they  think 
themselves  entitled;  and  they  can  just  as  readily 
deceive  and  impose  upon  themselves  with  regard 
to  their  spiritual  estate  and  moral  qualities.  A 
very  marked  instance  of  this  presented  itself  in 
the  case  of  this  church  at  Laodicea. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  how  these  people  could 
be  so  confident  in  their  good  thinking  of  them- 
selves when  the  facts  were  just  the  contrary  of 
what  they  supposed.  We  would  think  that  per- 
sons so  lukewarm  and  worldly  as  they  would  show 
some  degree  of  reserve  and  diffidence  in  supposing 
themselves  full  up  to  every  requirement  and  in 

268 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  269 

need  of  nothing.  Bnt  in  proportion  to  their 
lukewarmness  was  their  self-satisfaction  and  their 
confidence  that  they  were  quite  rich  in  every 
needful  good.  ''Having  reached  a  sufficiency 
for  all  that  they  were  inclined  to,  they  persuaded 
themselves  that  they  had  all  that  they  were  bound 
to,"  and  so  considered  that  they  were  amply  en- 
riched beyond  all  further  danger  or  want. 

Interpreters  have  questioned  whether  the  riches 
in  this  case  are  to  be  taken  as  worldly  or  as  spirit- 
ual riches.  Both  doubtless  were  in  the  Saviour's 
mind.  Laodicea  was  a  rich  cit}-,  perhaps  the 
most  famous  wool-market  in  the  world.  ]\Ianv 
of  the  products  of  the  East  there  exchanged  hands 
for  distribution  toward  the  West,  leaving  rich 
profits  for  the  Laodicean  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers. There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
church  there  was  the  wealthiest  in  earthly  goods 
of  any  then  existing.  And  where  there  is  great 
wealth  there  is  apt  to  be  a  great  deal  of  self-con- 
fidence. The  rich  are  prone  to  think  themselves 
pretty  well  fixed  and  guarded  against  all  perad- 
ventures.  There  is  great  power  in  great  wealth, 
and  a  church  made  up  of  wealthy  members  is 
easily  persuaded  that  it  has  everything  necessary 
to  answer  all  possible  purposes. 

But  with  their  temporal  riches  these  people  con- 
nected spiritual  riches  also.  They  had  an  idea  of 
wealth  in  grace,  and  some  persuasion  that  there 


270  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

was  no  want  of  that  in  which  Jesus  says  they  were 
poor.  The  bad  feature  of  the  case  was  that  they 
were  self-deceived.  They  could  not  have  been  so 
grossly  deceived  as  to  suppose  themselves  rich  and 
increased  with  worldly  goods  if  really  poor  in  that 
respect.  Their  false  opinion  of  their  riches  must 
therefore  have  included  some  thought  of  spiritual 
riches,  however  much  it  may  have  been  begotten 
by  their  worldly  plenty.  Rich  in  the  things  of 
this  world,  they  considered  themselves  well  off  in 
grace  too,  and  were  so  well  pleased  with  their 
whole  estate  that  they  could  not  see  that  they  had 
need  of  anything,  whether  in  reference  to  their 
Christianity  or  their  outward  condition.  Nay,  the 
ultimate  stress  of  the  description  falls  upon  spir- 
itual matters,  implying  that  these  people  were 
walking  in  a  vain  imagination  of  their  good  es- 
tate toward  God,  not  knowing  that  their  self-suf- 
ficiency was  an  egregious  self-delusion. 

But  whether  their  boastful  conceit  had  reference 
to  their  temporal  wealth,  their  spiritual  wealth, 
or  both,  there  was  a  very  wide  difference  between 
Christ's  estimate  of  them  and  their  estimate  of 
themselves.  They  thought  they  were  rich;  He 
says  they  were  poor.  They  doted  on  their  in- 
crease in  everything  to  make  them  happy;  He 
says  they  were  in  a  condition  of  wretchedness 
and  misery  without  knowing  it.  They  were  sat- 
isfied and  persuaded  that  they  had  need  of  noth- 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAO  DICE  A.  2/1 

ing;  He  says  they  were  destitute,  blind,  and 
naked.  They  had  no  sense  of  the  reality  of  their 
condition,  no  just  views  of  God  or  themselves,  no 
right  perception  of  the  ways  of  life  and  the  re- 
quirements of  salvation.  TJiey  ivere  miserably 
deceived. 

If  it  was  their  worldly  prosperity  in  which  they 
commended  themselves,  they  were  in  dread  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  earthly  goods  would  avail 
them  before  God  or  carry  them  safely  through  the 
day  of  judgment.  Dives  was  a  rich  man,  clothed 
in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and  fared  sumptuously 
every  day;  but  "he  died,  and  in  hell  he  lifted  up 
his  eyes,  being  in  torments."  And  if  it  was  their 
supposed  spiritual  riches,  they  were  equally  mis- 
taken in  expecting  heaven  on  a  mere  lukewarm 
and  halfway  Christianity.  It  is  not  what  we  think 
we  are  that  determines  our  estate,  for  it  may  be 
all  delusion.  Nor  are  we  what  others  may  say  we 
are,  for  it  may  be  their  ignorance,  their  malignity, 
or  their  flattery.  But  we  are  what  God  sees  us  to 
be,  whatever  thoughts  or  calculations  to  the  con- 
trary we  ma\'  indulg^e. 

How  these  people  came  to  entertain  such  false 
conclusions  in  reference  to  their  good  estate  is  in- 
dicated in  the  fact  stated  in  the  preceding  verses. 
They  were  neither  cold  nor  hot,  but  lukewarm. 
If  cold  and  wholly  outside  of  the  influences  of 
religion,  they  could  not  have  counted  themselves 


2/2  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

SO  secure  and  well  off  before  God,  nor  have  felt 
themselves  warranted  in  indulging  Christian  hopes. 
But  they  were  half  warmed  in  spiritual  things. 
They  had  gone  far  enough  in  Christianity  to 
make  them  think  and  feel  that  they  were  Chris- 
tians. What  were  they  if  they  were  not  Chris- 
tians ?  They  were  not  heathen,  they  were  not 
Jews,  and,  if  anything,  they  must  needs  be  Chris- 
tians. And  being  Christians,  and  so  rich,  why 
should  they  not  consider  themselves  admirably 
well  off  for  both  worlds?  If  they  had  been  hot 
and  entered  fully  into  the  Christian  spirit  and  life, 
they  would  have  had  no  confidence  in  the  flesh, 
and,  like  Paul,  would  not  have  counted  that  they 
had  apprehended  all  for  which  they  were  appre- 
hended of  Christ.  But  they  were  lukezvarni^  and 
their  lukewarmness  made  them  dull  and  indiffer- 
ent in  self-examination.  They  were  not  hot  in 
Christianity,  and  hence  not  anxious  enough  about 
their  spiritual  condition  to  search  themselves  well 
in  the  light  of  God\s  truth;  and  their  lack  of 
proper  self-examination  left  them  to  the  false  in- 
ference that  as  they  were  outwardly  prosperous  all 
was  right  with  them  spiritually.  Nay,  how  could 
it  be  that  they  were  not  in  the  highest  standing 
with  God,  seeing  that  He  had  so  greatly  blessed 
them  ?  It  was  doubtless  in  some  such  way  that 
they  reasoned.  And  so  they  concluded  that  they 
were  in  all  respects  well  off"  and  happy,  not  know- 


rO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  273 

ing  or  suspecting-  that  they  were  really  in  a  state 
of  miserable  povert)-,  blindness,  and  nakedness. 

It  is  sad  to  think  that  even  as  Christians  we  are 
liable  to  such  dreadful  deception;  but  so  it  is,  and 
we  cannot  alter  it.  And  such  self-deception  is 
sure  to  come  and  take  possession  of  us  if  we  allow 
ourselves  to  settle  down  contentedly  in  a  lukewarm 
and  halfway  Christianity.  To  cultivate  just  enough 
religion  to  keep  us  easy  in  conscience,  yet  not 
enough  to  keep  us  uneasy  and  anxious  about  our 
salvation,  exposes  us  to  the  greatest  danger  and 
opens  the  door  for  this  miserable  Laodicean  con- 
dition of  thinking  ourselves  rich  and  needing 
nothing  while  still  in  pitiable  lack  and  destitu- 
tion. The  urgent  necessity  is  ever  upon  us,  if  we 
would  indeed  come  to  eternal  life,  to  search  our- 
selves often  and  thoroughly  lest  we  should  be- 
come the  victims  of  this  very  delusion. 

Notice,  then,  what  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and 
true  Witness,  says,  by  way  of  requirement  and 
direction  in  the  case  of  these  lukewarm,  self-se- 
cure, and  self-deceived  people.  The  words  are 
plain  and  pointed,  and  apph-  to  all  who  think 
they  stand,  as  well  as  to  those  originally  addressed: 
^^ Because  tJiou  sayest^  I  am  ric/i^  and  increased 
with  goods ^  and  Jiai^e  need  of  notJiing  ;  and  know- 
est  not  that  thou  art  zvretched^  a?id  miserable^  and 
poor^  and  blind^  and  naked :  I  counsel  thee — ' ' 

' '  I  counsel  thee. ' '     There  is  a  tinge  of  irony  in 

18 


274  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

the  way  the  Saviour  speaks,  though  an  irony  of 
love  for  the  good  of  those  addressed.  He  who 
might  have  commanded  gives  '  V<9//;2J^/,"  and 
conforms  His  manner  of  speech  to  the  conceit  of 
the  persons  addressed.  They  were  very  great  and 
high  people  in  their  own  esteem — so  great  and 
high  that  it  was  scarce  in  place  to  address  them 
as  common  sinners.  They  were  rich  and  wise, 
and  hence  to  be  very  deferentially  approached. 
And  so  the  Saviour  uses  the  dialect  pertaining  to 
their  conceited  dignity  and  self-consequence.  It 
was  not  for  them  to  be  spoken  to  in  the  tone  of 
rebuke  and  imperial  command,  and  so  He  sug- 
gests to  them  a  piece  of  counsel  which  they  might 
perhaps  condescend  to  consider. 

What,  then,  did  He  counsel?  "I  counsel  thee 
to  buy  of  Me  gold  tried  in  the  Jire^  that  thou  inay- 
est  be  rich ;  and  white  raiment.^  that  thou  may  est 
be  clothed^  and  thai  the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  do 
not  appear ;  and  a^ioint  thine  eyes  zvith  eye-salve.^ 
that  thou  may  est  see^  And  a  deep-cutting  coun- 
sel it  was. 

They  were  people  of  business  and  large  buyers 
of  all  the  products  coming  from  the  East,  that 
they  might  sell  them  again  at  high  advances  to 
the  consumers  of  the  West.  And  so  the  Saviour 
suggests  and  counsels  whether  they  had  not  better 
consider  the  propriety  of  doing  a  larger  business 
with  Him^  and  take  some  stock  in  the  treasures 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  275 

and  wares  which  He  had  to  dispose  of:   ' '/  counsel 
thee  to  buy  of  Me. ' ' 

They  had  accumulated  goodly  fortunes.  They 
were  rich  and  plentiful  in  gold.  But  their  gold 
was  not  such  gold  as  would  maintain  its  proper 
weight  when  tried  in  the  balances  of  judgment. 
It  was  gold  only  half  refined,  that  would  not  pass 
at  all  for  currency  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  He 
had  the  true  gold,  the  tried  gold,  the  genuine  and 
pure  coin,  which  whosoever  hath  is  rich  indeed, 
and  can  travel  or  dwell  at  liberty  in  all  realms. 

Everywhere  do  we  read  of  the  riches  of  Christ, 
the  true  riches,  the  treasures  that  make  rich  to- 
ward God — treasures  which  moth  doth  not  corrupt 
and  thieves  can  never  steal.  These  are  made  up 
of  the  only  pure  gold,  the  only  riches  that  can 
give  rank  and  place  in  the  heavenly  common- 
wealth. And  the  counsel  here  given  by  the  Sa- 
viour is  that  it  would  be  to  the  advantage  of  these 
buyers  to  try  to  come  to  terms  with  Him  to  pos- 
sess themselves  of  the  pure  and  abiding  riches. 

As  many  came  from  the  far  Bast  to  Laodicea 
with  their  camels  laden  with  wools,  fabrics,  and 
treasures  to  sell  to  these  merchants,  so  Christ  here 
represents  Himself  as  having  come  to  them  with 
all  the  precious  things  of  His  kingdom,  proposing 
that  they  should  buy  of  Him  the  genuine  goods 
which  should  be  to  them  the  treasures  of  refined 
gold,  current  for  all  wants,  even  to  life  eternal. 


2/6  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS.     - 

Many  of  these  people  were  traders  in  wool  and 
garments  and  articles  made  of  wool.  The  raven- 
black  wools  of  Laodicea  were  famous  throughout 
the  world.  But  they  were  not  of  such  sort  as  to 
serve  for  the  clothing  and  covering  of  the  naked- 
ness of  the  soul.  Therefore  the  Saviour  counsels 
them  to  buy  raiment  from  Him — not  black  rai- 
ment such  as  theirs,  but  ivhite  raiment — raiment 
that  would  serve  to  array  them  for  the  society  of 
heaven.  We  read  many  times  of  the  fine  linen, 
white  and  clean,  which  is  the  righteousness  of  the 
saints — of  robes  made  white  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  of  garments  unspotted  by  the  flesh,  of 
being  clothed  with  righteousness  and  with  the 
garments  of  salvation.  And  this  is  the  raiment 
that  Jesus  proposed  that  these  people  should 
buy  of  Him. 

Some  of  these  were  large  dealers  in  ointments, 
perfumeries,  and  medicines,  brought  from  various 
places  noted  for  their  production,  and  highly  val- 
ued for  their  healing  virtues.  But  such  ointments 
and  oils  as  they  handled  could  not  heal  spiritual 
ailments.  Among  them  all  there  was  no  eye-salve 
that  could  cure  their  distorted  vision  or  recover 
them  to  right  views  of  their  real  condition  and 
wants.  They  believed,  and  as  believers  they  had 
membership  and  place  in  the  Church,  but  they 
had  not  added  to  their  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue 
knowledge,  and  to  knowledge  temperance,  and  so 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  L.I  OD  ICE  A.  2'JJ 

on  to  the  fulness  of  Christian  life  and  vigor,  and 
hence  were  blind  and  could  not  see  properly,  and 
needed  an  effective  eye-salve  which  Jesns  proposed 
to  furnish.  Indeed,  He  came  for  this  very  pur- 
pose, to  open  blind  eyes  and  remedy  the  obscured 
and  misleading  vision  of  the  children  of  men. 
Hence  He  counsels  these  easy-going  and  self- 
complacent  people  to  get  His  eye-salve  and  anoint 
their  eyes  with  it,  that  they  might  see;  for  only 
the  unction  from  the  Holy  One  can  ever  give 
clear-sightedness  to  perceive  the  truth,  and  thus 
to  become  wise  unto  salvation. 

These  things  Jesus  counselled  these  people  to 
b2iy  of  Him.  But  how  can  wretched,  miserable, 
poor,  blind,  and  naked  people  <^//j' anything?  The 
counsel  looks  like  a  self-contradiction  and  an  im- 
possibility. But  the  buying  of  which  He  coun- 
sels is  the  buying  Isaiah  speaks  of,  where  it  is 
said,  "Every  one,  and  he  that  hath  no  money, 
come  ye,  buy  and  eat:  yea  come,  buy  wine  and 
milk  without  money  and  withont  price."  There 
is  dealing  with  Christ  required,  and  there  is  some- 
thing of  price  demanded,  bnt  it  is  not  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  jDOorest.  Nay,  the  deeper  the  con- 
sciousness of  destitution  and  poverty  the  better 
the  chance  for  a  successful  purchase.  The  word 
is,  "To  this  man  will  I  look,  even  to  him  that  is 
poor,  and  of  a  contrite  spirit,  and  trembleth  at 
My  word."     All   who   really  wish    to   have   the 


278  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Saviour's  fine  gold  and  white  raiment  and  heal- 
ing unction,  and  apply  to  Him  for  them,  and 
covet  them  earnestly,  and  open  their  mouths  wide 
unto  Him,  are  already  in  the  way  of  possessing 
them.  Only  "let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way, 
and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts,  and  return 
unto  the  I^ord,  and  He  will  have  mercy  upon  him, 
and  to  our  God,  for  He  will  abundantly  pardon." 
But  people  must  renounce  the  world  and  its  fol- 
lies. They  must  let  go  their  conceit  and  good 
opinion  of  themselves.  Whatever  of  peace  and 
prosperity  may  have  come  to  them,  they  must 
never  think  they  have  sufficiently  attained,  nor 
give  place  to  the  delusion  that  they  are  rich,  and 
so  increased  with  goods  as  to  be  in  want  of  noth- 
ing more.  They  need  to  feel  and  know  that  of 
themselves  they  are  never  other  than  wretched, 
and  miserable,  and  poor,  and  blind,  and  naked, 
and  hence  need  to  put  themselves  in  close  and 
constant  communication  and  dealing  with  Christ, 
who  is  prepared  and  ever  ready  to  enrich  them 
with  the  pure  gold,  to  clothe  them  with  the  white 
raiment  of  His  righteousness,  and  to  anoint  them 
with  the  healinor  ^nd  rectifvinof  unction  of  His 
Holy  Spirit. 

There  is  particular  emphasis  laid  on  the  words 
' '  of  Me. ' '  These  Laodiceans  were  very  ardent 
and  active  in  trying  to  enrich  themselves  by  buy- 
ing of  other  people,  but  they  were  not  so  much 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  279 

concerned  to  enrich  themselves  with  the  pure  and 
immortal  riches  to  be  had  only  of  Him.  The 
counsel,  therefore,  was  for  them  to  transfer  to 
Him  the  activity  and  earnestness  of  dealing 
which  characterized  their  transactions  with  other 
comers.  No  one  can  ever  get  and  enjoy  the  true 
riches  if  he  is  not  willing  to  deal  with  Christ. 
He  is  the  possessor  and  administrator  of  all  sav- 
ing grace.  No  one  can  have  salvation  and  leave 
Him  out.  Every  one  must  go  to  Him,  buy  of 
Him,  and  have  constantly  to  do  with  Him,  or  all 
hopes  must  fail.  Declining  to  deal  with  Christ 
or  to  come  to  terms  with  Him,  we  decline  heaven, 
and  must  remain  poor,  naked,  and  wretched  for 
ever;  for  no  one  has  the  riches  and  goods  and 
medicines  we  need  but  Himself.  There  is  none 
other  name  given  under  heaven  among  men 
whereby  we  can  be  saved.  In  Him  are  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  In  Him  are 
the  onlv  life  and  lio^ht  of  the  children  of  men. 
"He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting 
life;  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son,  shall  not 
see  life,  and  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  upon  him." 
Whether  for  the  cold  or  for  the  lukewarm  there  is 
no  other  way  out  of  our  poverty  and  wretchedness 
but  to  come  to  Christ  and  buy  of  Him.  Our  sal- 
vation is  in  His  merchandise. 

And  a  blessed  thing  it  is  that  He  comes  to  us 
with  His  precious  treasures  and  proposes  to  make 


28o  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

them  ours.  We  have  not  to  go  far  to  find  Him. 
He  comes  to  us.  A  great  way  has  He  travelled 
to  reach  us,  and  at  great  cost  has  He  procured  for 
us  the  pure  gold,  the  raiment  of  justifying  right- 
eousness, and  the  unction  of  permanent  healing 
for  all  defects.  He  also  invites  us  to  come  and 
buy,  ready  to  pass  all  into  our  possession  on  the 
spot  if  we  desire  them,  x^nd  His  terms  are  very 
easy.  We  have  only  to  cease  resting  on  our  own 
sufiiciency,  turn  from  all  other  hope,  and  take  the 
treasures  which  He  offers.  We  can  have  them  for 
the  taking. 

Dear  friends,  a  great  and  costly  opportunity  is 
ours.  Let  us  not  think  that  we  have  no  occasion 
to  embrace  it.  Let  us  not  think  that  we  are  rich 
and  increased  with  goods  and  have  need  of  noth- 
ing. Let  us  not  suppose  because  we  have  taken 
upon  us  the  Christian  profession,  and  have  been 
much  favored  with  the  sunshine  of  prosperity, 
that  we  are  anything  but  poor,  needy  sinners. 
We  only  deceive  ourselves  if  we  do.  Every  day, 
every  hour,  we  need  the  Saviour's  atoning  blood 
and  gracious  forgiveness.  We  stand  continually 
in  shameful  nakedness  till  clothed  with  His  right- 
eousness. We  are  all  the  time  full  of  blindness, 
ailment,  and  folly,  which  His  grace  alone  can 
heal.  We  are  as  much  in  want  to-day  as  ever  we 
have  been  in  our  lives.  Our  Saviour  knows  this, 
and  what  a  wretched  self-deception  it  is  for  us  to 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  28  I 

think  otherwise!  Accordingly,  He  conies  to  us 
laden  with  His  precious  goods,  that  we  may  buy 
of  Him,  and  never  think  ourselves  rich  and  happy 
except  as  we  again  and  again  renew  and  keep  up 
our  commerce  with  Him.  And  here  in  the  text 
He  stands  before  each  one  of  us  to-day,  telling  us 
of  our  poverty  and  wretchedness,  and  counselling 
us  to  buy  of  Him  gold  tried  in  the  fire  that  we 
may  be  rich,  and  white  raiment  that  we  may  be 
clothed,  and  the  healing  salves  of  heavenly  unc- 
tion that  we  mav  be  cured  of  our  (^reat  infirmities. 
Let  us,  then,  be  thankful  for  our  chance,  and  earn- 
estly embrace  it  while  we  may. 


ilecture  ffiigljtecntij. 

Rev.  3  :  19:  "As  many  as  I  love,  I  rebuke  and  chasten:  be  zealous 
therefore,  and  repent." 

HAT  is  written  in  Proverbs  (3:11,  12)  as 
pertaining  to  God,  Jesus  here  quotes  as 


-^  pertaining  to  Himself.  The  explanation 
is  found  in  that  saying  of  His:  "/  and  My  Father 
are  oney  If  the  Father  loves  and  chastens,  the 
Son  loves  and  chastens;  and  if  the  Son  loves  and 
chastens,  it  is  the  Father  doing  it,  for  the  Father 
is  in  the  Son  and  the  Son  in  the  Father,  and  the 
administration  in  either  case  is  one  and  the  same. 
That  God  in  Christ  is  supremely  good  and  be- 
nevolent is  evidenced  on  all  hands.  That  He  ex- 
ercises a  very  tender  aflfection  for  His  creature 
man,  and  is  very  loving  to  those  whom  He  has 
chosen,  is  declared  in  all  the  Scriptures.  But 
what  is  here  announced  as  His  way  of  dealing 
with  the  objects  of  His  regard  appears  a  little 
strange  and  paradoxical  to  natural  expectation. 
We  would  rather  suppose  that  those  whom  God 
loves  He  would  make  rich  and  great  and  noble 
and  renowned,  that  He  would  give  them  all  the 
world  can  afford,  and  that  He  would  show  His 

282 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  283 

favor  b\-  wreathing-  their  brows  with  honors  that 
do  not  fade  and  filling-  their  coffers  with  riches 
that  thieves  cannot  steal.  It  was  somewhat  in 
this  way  that  these  Laodiceans  reasoned.  But 
the  Saviour  speaks  very  differently.  He  here 
gives  it  as  the  settled  principle  of  His  adminis- 
trations that  those  whose  lives  are  flowing  on  amid 
sunshine  and  flowers  have  most  reason  to  doubt 
their  favorable  standing  with  Him,  for  as  many 
as  He  loves  He  rebukes  and  chastens.  The  builder 
does  not  touch  the  stones  which  he  has  not  chosen 
for  place  in  his  edifice.  He  deals  only  with  those 
which  he  most  approves  and  intends  for  the  most 
honored  places;  and  these  he  hews  and  chisels  and 
rasps  to  shape  and  fit  them  for  their  positions. 

To  rebuke  {kXiyyo))  is  to  reprove,  to  convict,  to 
shame,  to  show  one  his  errors.  7\i  chasten  {jzac- 
deuco)  is  to  teach  and  educate  by  means  of  the  rod, 
to  correct  with  severity,  to  punish  for  the  cure  of 
wrong,  to  set  right  by  scourging,  as  in  the  case  of 
a  father  dealing  with  a  child.  The  two  are  run 
together  and  describe  severe  disciplinar)-'  treat- 
ment, meant  to  suppress  and  remove  faults  and 
imperfections  and  to  bring  about  a  bettered  con- 
dition. The  words  designate  a  painful  and  hu- 
miliating treatment,  not  to  destroy,  but  to  edu- 
cate, correct,  develop,  improve,  and  fashion  to 
propriety,  honor,  and  goodness.  And  so  the 
Saviour  savs  He  deals  with  all  whom  He  loves. 


284  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

The  whole  history  of  the  Church  from  the  be- 
ginning until  now  is  one  continuous  illustration 
of  the  statement,  "As  many  as  I  love  I  rebuke 
and  chasten."  From  iVbel,  who  died  a  martyr 
within  sight  of  lost  Paradise,  and  from  the  tears 
of  Adam  and  Eve  over  his  untimely  and  tragic 
death,  down  to  the  latest  sorrows  in  the  homes  of 
the  saints,  the  truth  stands  out  that  as  many  as 
Jesus  loves  He  rebukes  and  chastens.  The  rule 
admits  of  no  exceptions.  No  one  is  exempt  from 
its  operation.  The  devil  may  promise  worldly 
prosperity  to  his  children,  but  Jesus  says  we  must 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  through  much  trib- 
ulation. Where  His  loving  favor  rests,  there  it 
is  part  of  the  administration  of  His  love  to  deal 
out  corrective  discipline.  If  we  are  not  chastened 
betimes,  we  are  not  the  subjects  of  His  grace; 
"  for  whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth.  If  ye 
endure  chastening,  God  dealeth  with  you  as  with 
sons;  for  what  son  is  he  whom  the  father  chasten- 
eth not?  But  if  ye  be  without  chastisement, 
whereof  all  are  partakers,  then  are  ye  bastards, 
and  not  sons"  (Heb.  12  :  5-8).  And  as  those  who 
are  not  scourged  are  not  legitimate  children,  so 
those  who  are  not  rebuked  and  chastened  are  not 
loved. 

Very  precious  also  is  this  discipline  of  suffer- 
ing.    Many  great  and  ruinous  errors  and  faults 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  285 

are  thereb\'  cured  or  prevented.  Aliriam  was 
taught  to  leave  off  her  rebellious  uiurniuring  and 
trouble-making  b>-  being  smitten  with  leprosy. 
Jonah  was  brought  to  his  better  senses  and  to  the 
discharge  of  his  prophetic  duties  by  the  trouble 
he  encountered  in  the  sea  amid  the  storm  of  di- 
vine displeasure.  David  was  recovered  from  his 
wandering  from  God  by  the  afflictions  that  were 
sent  upon  him.  Zacharias  was  cured  of  his  un- 
belief bv  beino^  struck  with  dumbness.  Paul  was 
kept  from  being  exalted  above  measure  by  a  hu- 
miliating and  vexatious  thorn  in  the  flesh.  And 
so  afflictions  of  one  sort  or  another  are  dealt  out 
to  the  people  of  God  for  tlieir  spiritual  profit,  that 
the  same  may  work  out  for  them  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight  of  glory. 

Up  to  the  time  the  text  was  dictated  the  church 
at  Laodicea  appears  to  have  been  comparatively 
free  from  trouble.  The  members  in  general  were 
outwardly  prosperous  and  without  the  disturb- 
ances with  which  some  of  these  churches  had  to 
contend.  They  counted  themselves  rich  and  hap- 
py and  in  need  of  nothing,  and  hence  presumed 
that  the  special  favor  of  Heaven  was  upon  them. 
Their  exemption  from  adversities  made  them  think 
themselves  particularly  dear  to  the  Saviour  and 
spiritually  blessed.  But  what  they  took  as  an 
argument  that  all  was  exceptionally  well  with 
them  Jesus  here  retorts  upon  them  as  arguing  the 


286  THE  LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

very  opposite.  Out  of  their  own  mouths  He  con- 
victs them.  Without  rebuke  and  chastening  they 
were  wanting  in  one  of  the  most  essential  proofs 
of  His  love.  Excepted  from  these  severe  disci- 
plinary dealings,  they  must  needs  be  excepted 
from  being  sons.  There  was  thus  a  very  sharp 
and  deep-reaching  rebuke  to  their  fond  conceit 
when  Jesus  said  to  them,  ^^As  many  as  I  love  I 
rebuke  and  chasten.^'' 

And  yet  if  there  were  any  poor,  afflicted,  or 
sorrowing  ones  among  them,  this  announcement 
had  much  comfort  in  it  for  them.  It  said  to  such 
that  as  continued  prosperity  and  sunshine  in  this 
world  are  no  proof  of  the  divine  favor,  but  rather 
the  contrary,  so  the  presence  of  adversity  and 
darkness  do  not  prove  the  divine  love  withdrawn, 
but  evidence  its  active  presence. 

When  good  Christian  people  are  overtaken  with 
misfortune  and  trouble,  and  fail  of  relief  notwith- 
standing all  their  prayers  and  entreaties,  they  are 
apt  to  take  it  as  a  mark  of  God's  anger  and  begin 
to  wonder  what  great  sin  they  have  committed  to 
deserve  such  punishment.  But  they  mistake;  it 
is  not  punishment  at  all.  Instead  of  being  re- 
tributive wrath,  it  is  the  manifestation  of  tender 
love.  Trouble  does  not  come  because  Jesus  has 
ceased  to  love  us,  but  because  He  does  love  us  and 
is  concerned  to  do  the  very  best  for  us.  The  rule 
works  both  ways.    As  there  is  no  love  where  there 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  28/ 

is  no  rebuke  and  chastening,  so  where  the  cross  is 
there  love  is,  graciously  dealing  with  us  for  our 
greater  good  and  blessedness. 

But  because  these  Laodiceans  were  happily  free 
from  adversity  and  trial,  there  was  no  reason  in 
that  for  counting  on  the  continuance  of  their 
boasted  good-fortune.  The  very  announcement 
to  them  of  this  principle  in  the  Saviour's  deal- 
ings was  forewarning  that  they  would  either  lose 
their  salvation  or  would  have  to  suffer  like  other 
saints.  As  prosperity  had  spoiled  them,  there  had 
to  come  some  sharp  severity  to  correct  them;  and 
here  was  now  the  distinct  pre-intimation  that 
heavy  judgment  was  at  hand  for  them,  to  cure 
and  save  them  if  they  properly  received  it,  but 
destined  to  work  great  grief  and  their  utter  per- 
dition if  not  allowed  to  set  them  right  and  in- 
duce in  them  a  better  temper.  Nay,  this  judg- 
ment had  now  already  set  in.  The  very  words 
that  the  Saviour  was  speaking  were  a  part  of  it. 
In  these  they  were  now  hearing  from  the  throne 
in  heaven  the  most  distressing  sentence  upon 
them.  By  a  tribunal  from  which  there  is  no 
appeal  their  whole  religious  life  and  character 
is  adjudged  fatally  defective,  and  so  offensive  that 
they  would  presently  be  ejected  with  disgust  from 
all  part  or  place  with  the  Saviour  if  not  promptly 
reformed  and  changed.  From  the  very  lips  of 
Him  in  whom  alone  there  was  any  hope  for  them 


288  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

they  now  were  compelled  to  hear  that  all  their 
supposed  riches  cloaked  a  wretched  poverty,  and 
that  nothing  could  help  them  but  instantaneous 
revolution  in  their  thinking  and  their  ways. 

Here  was  judgment  begun.  Here  were  intense 
rebuke  and  chastening  come,  after  all.  Here  were 
scourging  and  humiliation,  severer  even  than  the 
fires  of  the  stake  at  Smyrna  amid  which  Polycarp 
obtained  the  martyr's  crown.  What  could  cut 
deeper  or  burn  into  the  soul  a  more  torturing 
distress  than  such  words  from  Christ  Himself? 

And  yet  it  was  not  in  anger,  but  in  love,  that 
these  words  were  spoken.  The  intention  was  to 
recover,  heal,  and  save,  not  to  drive  to  despair. 
There  was  no  hope  for  these  people  except  in  this 
way  of  dealing  with  them;  and  these  very  sever- 
ities of  reproof  and  menace  were  given  in  love, 
that  those  concerned  might  profit  by  them  and  set 
themselves  to  repair  what  was  wanting. 

What,  then,  was  it  that  the  Saviour  wished  to 
bring  about  in  these  people  ?  There  is  never  au}^ 
activity  of  God  in  word  or  providence  but  it  is 
meant  to  compass  moral  and  practical  results.  In 
this  case  it  was  the  rod  of  the  word  heavily  ap- 
plied, that  the  subjects  of  the  affliction  might  be 
moved  and  incited  to  ^^  be  zealous^  and  repent. ' ' 

Zeal  means  fire,  warmth,  boiling  fervency — an 
earnest  vehemence  of  all  the  affections  in  relation 
to  God  and  His  service.    It  is  like  wings  to  a  bird, 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  289 

like  wheels  to  a  chariot,  like  sails  to  a  ship,  like 
the  fire  on  which  the  engine  dep  nds  for  its  steam 
and  power;  for  it  is  the  warmth  and  energy  of  soul 
by  which  a  man  throws  himself  into  what  he  un- 
dertakes. Under  the  Law  no  sacrifice  could  be 
offered  without  fire;  and  no  more  can  any  service 
be  rightly  performed  under  the  Gospel  without 
zeal.  There  must  be  fervency  and  warmth,  or 
all  our  devotions  fail  in  power  to  rise  acceptably 
to  Heaven. 

There  may,  indeed,  be  zeal  without  genuine  ser- 
vice of  God,  against  which  to  be  on  our  guard. 

There  is  a  Jiypocritical  zcal^  like  that  of  Jehu, 
who  marched  with  fury  and  whose  watchword 
was  "The  Lord  of  hosts,"  but  who  was  more 
bent  upon  his  own  ambitious  ends  than  on  any 
service  to  be  rendered  to  the  Almighty.  So  also 
with  the  Pharisees,  who  paid  tithe  of  mint,  anise, 
and  cummin,  made  broad  their  phylacteries,  en- 
larcred  the  borders  of  their  tjarments,  coveted  the 
uppermost  rooms  at  feasts  and  the  chief  seats  in 
the  synagogues,  compassed  sea  and  land  to  make 
proselytes,  and  for  a  pretence  made  long  prayers, 
but  did  not  hesitate  to  devour  widows'  houses,  to 
set  aside  the  w^eighty  matters  of  judgment,  mercy, 
and  faith,  to  stone  and  kill  the  prophets,  and  to 
crucify  the  very  Son  of  God. 

There  is  also  an  ignorant  zeal^  like  that  of  Saul 
of  Tarsus  before  his  conversion,  or  like  that  of 

19 


290  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

the  Jews,  who  had  a  zeal  for  God,  but  not  accord- 
ing to  knowledge.  Such  a  zeal  is  like  spirited 
mettle  in  a  blind  horse,  hastening  his  speed  only 
to  break  his  neck. 

There  is  likewise  a  turbulent  and  bitter  zeal^ 
driving  one  headlong  beyond  all  bounds  of  pro- 
priety, place,  moderation,  and  charity,  like  that 
of  the  unfledged  apostles  James  and  John,  who 
thought  to  vindicate  the  honor  of  Christ  by  call- 
ing down  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  a  whole 
village  of  Samaritans,  or  like  that  which,  under 
color  of  religion  or  the  maintenance  of  human 
rights,  takes  upon  itself  to  massacre  princes,  over- 
turn kingdoms,  trample  upon  established  law, 
break  through  all  the  bonds  of  society,  and  com- 
mit to  the  guillotine  all  who  may  stand  in  its  way 
— a  zeal  kindled  in  hell  rather  than  derived  from 
heaven. 

And  yet  there  can  be  no  genuine  service  of  God 
without  zeal.  The  ground-rule  of  the  whole  law 
of  God  and  of  all  the  precepts  and  requirements 
of  His  word  is  that  if  we  are  to  serve  God  at  all 
it  must  be  with  all  the  heart,  with  all  the  soul, 
with  all  the  mind,  and  with  all  the  strength.  He 
is  the  Supreme,  and  if  He  is  not  the  supreme  in 
all  our  affections  and  activities  we  stand  exposed 
to  that  consuming  jealousy  which  will  not  allow 
of  our  having  any  other  God  besides  Him. 

Zeal  in  religion  is  not  excitement,   rant,   and 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  29 1 

fury.  It  is  not  fanaticism,  bigotry,  and  intoler- 
ance. It  is  not  a  proud  conceit  of  superiority 
which  thanks  God  that  it  is  not  as  other  men, 
and  draws  its  cloak  of  sanctity  about  it  lest  it 
should  take  on  contamination  by  coming  too  near 
to  them.  It  is  not  the  heat  of  blustering  passion, 
which  must  have  the  conflagration  in  which  to 
live,  and  leaves  onlv  a  burnt  district  when  it  re- 
tires.  But  it  is  the  giving  of  the  whole  heart  to 
Jesus  and  His  service,  so  as  not  to  draw  back  for 
any  lure  of  this  world  or  to  stop  at  any  sacrifice 
the  Lord  may  require  of  us. 

And  just  here  was  the  particular  deficiency  of 
these  Laodiceans.  No  charge  of  heresy  in  doc- 
trine is  made  against  them.  No  disorder  in  their 
services  is  alleged.  Outwardly  they  were  a  pros- 
perous and  respectable  community  of  Christians. 
But  they  were  neither  cold  nor  hot.  They  were 
lukewarm.  They  had  no  seal^  no  fervency,  no 
ardent  w^armth,  no  whole-souled  earnestness  in 
their  Christianity.  They  were  in  an  insipid  and 
nauseating  condition,  which  they  needed  to  get 
out  of,  or  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  but  to  be 
spued  out  of  the  Saviour's  mouth. 

To  get  them  out  of  this  miserable  lukewarm- 
ness  it  was  now  laid  upon  them  to  repent.  Their 
mind  had  to  be  changed.  Their  whole  estimate 
of  things  had  to  be  revolutionized.  Their  good 
opinion  of  themselves  had  to  be  dropped.     They 


292  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

were  to  go  at  the  whole  matter  afresh,  turn  a  new 
leaf,  and  begin  again  as  poor  sinners,  destitute, 
blind,  naked,  and  in  peril  of  losing  their  salva- 
tion altogether.  There  was  hope  if  they  would 
now  set  out  in  good  earnest,  seek  for  a  new  bap- 
tism of  the  Spirit,  and  become  alive  and  zealous 
in  their  profession  and  duties  as  Christians.  But 
this  was  now  an  absolute  requirement.  If  their 
wealth  could  not  be  consecrated  to  better  uses 
than  to  inflate  their  self-consequence  and  self- 
complacency,  it  would  prove  their  worst  curse 
and  be  a  chain  about  their  necks  to  sink  them  to 
the  deeper  perdition.  If  they  did  not  give  them- 
selves to  more  earnestness  and  heart-fidelity  in 
their  religion,  their  boasted  outward  prosperity 
would  be  to  them  their  everlasting  ruin.  And 
nothing  but  a  new  start  in  a  warm,  devoted,  and 
zealous  spirituality,  and  a  deepening  of  their  piety 
in  all  directions,  would  now  save  them  from  an 
utter  rejection  by  their  I^ord  and  Judge. 

And  if  ever  there  was  occasion  for  such  de- 
mands, it  is. in  the  Christendom  of  our  times. 
Never  was  the  Church  general  and  the  great  mass 
of  its  professed  members  so  Laodicean  in  condi- 
tion as  in  our  days.  Never  was  there  so  much 
joining  of  the  worship  of  God  with  the  worship 
of  Mammon — such  close  affiliation  of  the  Church 
with  the  world — so  much  boastful  religiousness 
and  churchism  with  so  little  genuine  Christian- 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  293 

ity — SO  much  self-confident  profession  with  so 
much  emptiness  even  in  common  honesty.  Peo- 
ple heap  to  themselves  teachers  to  suit  their  tastes 
— teachers  to  slur  over  or  deny  unwelcome  truths, 
flatter  the  vain  imaginings  of  their  hearers,  and 
teach  an  easv-s^oinor  wav  to  heaven — and  then 
think  how  wonderfully  well  off  they  are  for  this 
world  and  the  next.  Having  come  down  to  the 
world's  ideas  and  gained  the  world's  praise  and 
patronage,  they  are  full  of  the  Laodicean  self- 
sufficiency,  and  as  full  of  I^aodicean  ofFensiveness 
to  Christ. 

Here  and  there  we  find  some  humble  and  de- 
voted ones  whom  Jesus  loves — some  whom  He 
bears  upon  His  heart  as  His  true  saints.  But  they 
are  mostly  persons  of  whom  the  least  account  is 
taken — poor  souls  to  whom  nobody  cares  to  listen 
or  who  are  only  despised  as  wishing  to  put  a  cowl 
upon  the  free  spirit  of  this  superlative  age.  The 
time  prophesied  of  by  Paul  has  come,  when  in  the 
Church  itself  "  men  are  lovers  of  their  own  selves, 
covetous,  boasters,  proud,  blasphemers,  heady, 
high-minded,  lovers  of  pleasures  more  than  lovers 
of  God,  having  the  form  of  godliness,  but  deny- 
ing the  power  thereof ' '  And  it  is  useless  for  any 
of  us  to  think  that  we  are  not  more  or  less  under 
the  influence  of  this  same  Laodicean  spirit;  for 
that  itself  would  be  proof  against  us.  What  we 
all  need  is  to  repent  and  be  zealous,  that  our  re- 


294  I^HJi   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ligion  may  not  be  of  that  poor  sort  which  Christ 
certainly  will  disown  and  reject. 

It  belongs  to  man  to  have  live  feelings.  We 
cannot  live  without  animation  and  passion.  We 
must  be  interested  and  ardent  in  something.  And 
if  it  is  not  in  earnest  spiritual  Christianity  and  the 
service  of  God,  it  will  be  in  the  pursuits,  follies, 
and  caprices  of  this  world,  in  the  service  of  self 
and  sin.  The  question  is  not  whether  we  are  to 
have  warmth  and  zest  in  us,  but  whether  the 
warmth  and  zest  are  to  be  for  God  and  His 
Christ.  Feel  we  must,  and  zealous  we  will  be; 
but  the  question  is  whether  our  enthusiasm  is 
to  be  nourished  from  the  wells  of  salvation,  or 
fed  by  the  excitements  and  fascinations  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil. 

The  human  family  is  not  made  up  of  lukewarm 
people.  The  whole  world  teems  with  activity  and 
zealous  effort.  You  look  in  vain  for  those  who 
are  not  busy  and  earnest  in  something  which  lies 
near  their  hearts.  Politics,  science,  literature,  art, 
fashion,  gain,  promotion,  riches,  pleasure,  sen- 
suality,— all  have  their  myriads  of  earnest  devo- 
tees. Turn  where  we  will,  we  find  anxious  faces, 
throbbing  hearts,  busy  hands,  agitated  minds,  and 
earnest  souls.  No  one  is  lukewarm.  Each  has 
his  subject  to  occupy  and  animate  his  thoughts 
and  fire  his  zeal.  The  very  weariness  of  the 
world  proves  the  intensity  of  feeling  which  moves 


rO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  295 

and  tasks  its  heart.  And  if  people  are  thus  inter- 
ested and  earnest  in  the  perishing  things  of  this 
world,  there  can  be  no  greater  inconsistency,  no 
worse  unreason,  no  more  offensive  hypocrisy,  than 
for  them  to  claim  to  be  Christians  and  yet  have  no 
zeal,  no  enthusiasm,  no  vigorous  earnestness  in 
what  pertains  to  Christianity. 

Everything  else  is  in  earnest.  The  world  is  in 
earnest.  Christ  is  in  earnest.  The  devil  is  in 
earnest,  and  all  the  devil's  children  are  in  earnest 
in  one  way  or  another.  And  for  a  professed  Chris- 
tian to  hope  to  secure  an  eternal  heaven  without 
earnest  and  uncompromising  endeavor  to  fill  out 
the  demands  of  his  high  calling  is  an  anomaly  in 
the  universe,  and  a  thing  which  the  heavenly 
Judge  can  by  no  means  tolerate.  Hence  His 
message  to  the  Laodiceans,  and  to  all  in  like 
condition:   ^^Be  zealous^  therefore^  and  repenty 

Dear  friends,  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves.  If 
it  is  worth  our  while  to  be  Christians  at  all,  it  is 
worth  all  the  zeal,  interest,  and  devotion  we  can 
give  to  it.  If  we  have  been  lukewarm  and  indif- 
ferent, dividing  our  hearts  between  God  and  the 
things  of  the  world,.  tr>'ing  to  keep  up  a  name 
for  discipleship  while  our  feelings  are  left  to  run 
after  the  pleasures,  gains,  and  honors  of  this  life, 
the  time  has  come  for  us  to  make  a  more  serious 
matter  of  our  religion.     We  must  make  an  effect- 


296  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

ual  end  of  all  spiritual  insipidity,  or  it  will  make 
an  effectual  end  of  our  hopes.  And  unless  we  re- 
pent out  of  our  lukewarmness,  and  make  a  more 
earnest  showing  that  we  really  wish  to  have  place 
among  the  Lord's  redeemed,  we  may  as  well  be 
assured,  first  as  last,  that  we  shall  never  get  it; 
for  only 

Shame  and  sorrow  wait 
On  feeble  feet,  faint  heart,  and  wavering  eyes. 


Hecture  l^tineteentlj. 

Rev.  3  :  20:  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock  :  If  any  man 
hear  My  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup 
with  him,  and  he  with  Me." 

'HBN  the  lyord  lifts  His  finger  and  says, 
^^ Behold P"^  we  may  be  sure  of  something 
marked  and  marvellous  to  be  considered. 
And  so  it  is  in  this  instance.  God  help  us,  there- 
fore, to  give  heed! 

Many  have  taken  the  text  as  the  tenderest  ex- 
hibit of  the  Saviour's  condescending  love  con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures,  but  all  the  depths  and 
implications  of  the  passage  are  mostly  unper- 
ceived.  The  picture  is  indeed  very  affecting  and 
tender,  but  it  does  not  refer  so  much  to  the  Sa- 
viour's present  attitude  toward  the  unconverted 
as  to  His  attitude  toward  the  Church  itself  in  the 
period  of  His  second  coming.  Its  particular  ref- 
erence is  to  that  solemn  time  and  that  sad  condi- 
tion of  things  to  which  the  Saviour  alluded  when 
He  spoke  the  parable  of  the  Unjust  Judge  and 
said,  "Nevertheless,  when  the  Son  of  man  com- 
eth,  shall  He  find  faith  on  the  earth?"  (Luke  i8 : 
8).     It  contemplates  Him  as  now  in  some  sense 

297 


298  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

absent,  but  as  then  arrived  and  in  large  measure ' 
barred  out  of  His  own  Church. 

The  true  application  of  the  passage  connects 
directly  with  a  like  presentation  made  in  the 
Song  of  Solomon  (chap.  5),  some  of  the  very 
language  of  which  it  repeats,  and  with  the  sub- 
stance of  which  it  coincides.  In  that  marvellous 
Song  the  bride  is  always  the  Church  and  the 
Bridegroom  the  Lord  Jesus.  In  that  chapter  the 
bride  is  represented  in  a  sleepy  and  dreamy  state 
in  the  midst  of  the  night,  neither  dead  asleep  like 
the  rest  of  the  world,  nor  yet  entirely  awake,  but 
in  a  state  between  the  two,  answering  to  the 
neither-hot-nor-cold  condition  of  the  Laodicean 
church.  In  this  condition  her  Lord  comes  for 
her,  and  finds  Himself  locked  out.  He  stands  by 
the  door  and  knocks  and  calls  for  admission,  just 
as  in  the  text.  But  so  languid  and  slow  is  she  to 
open  to  her  Lord,  and  pleads  so  many  dilatory  ex- 
cuses, that  by  the  time  she  gets  full  awake,  and 
would  gladly  receive  Him,  she  finds  to  her  sorrow 
that  He  has  gone.  Thus  she  is  left  to  seek  Him 
amid  distresses,  sufferings,  and  losses,  just  as  the 
unready  multitude  will  be  "/^"  when  the  Lord 
cometh  to  take  His  watching  and  waiting  people 
—  "left"  to  experience  the  great  tribulation,  and 
amid  its  griefs  to  wash  their  robes  that  they  may 
not  be  among  the  utterly  lost. 

In  the  same  way  the  text  identifies  with  what 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  299 

the  Saviour  says  in  Luke  (12  :  35-38),  where  He 
exhorts  His  people:  "Let  your  loins  be  girded 
about,  and  your  lights  burning;  and  ye  yourselves 
like  unto  men  that  wait  for  their  lord,  when  he 
will  return  from  the  wedding;  tJiat  when  he  com- 
eth  aftd  knocketh^  they  may  ope^i  unto  him  iniine- 
diately.  Blessed  are  those  servants,  whom  the 
Lord  when  He  cometh  shall  find  watching:  verily 
I  say  unto  you,  that  He  shall  gird  Himself,  and 
make  them  to  sit  down  to  meat,  and  will  come 
forth  and  serve  them.  And  if  He  shall  come  in 
the  second  watch,  or  come  in  the  third  watch,  and 
find  them  so,  blessed  are  those  Servian ts."  Here 
is  precisely  the  same  coming,  the  same  knocking, 
and  the  same  supping  with  those  who  open  to 
Him,  that  we  have  in  the  text. 

The  presentation  likewise  coincides  with  what 
is  recorded  in  Mark  (chap.  13),  where  it  is  writ- 
ten, "The  Son  of  man  is  as  a  man  taking  a  far 
journey,  who  left  his  house,  and  gave  authority 
to  his  servants,  and  to  every  man  his  work,  and 
commanded  the  porter  to  watch.  Watch  ye, 
therefore;  for  ye  know  not  when  the  master  of 
the  house  cometh:  at  even,  or  at  midnight,  or  at 
the  cock-crowing,  or  in  the  morning.  Lest  com- 
ing suddenly,  He  find  you  sleeping.  And  what  I 
say  to  you,  I  say  unto  all,  Watch."  The  only  \ 
difference  is  that  the  parable  represents  the  com-  y 
ing  to  be  in  some  indefinite  time  in  the  future,  v 


300  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

while  ill  the  text  Christ  is  already  come  and 
standing  before  the  door.  Having  been  person- 
ally long  absent,  He  at  length  retnrns  to  it  in  its 
last  or  Laodicean  period,  and  knocks  for  admis- 
sion. He  comes  to  His  own  honse,  but  His  pres- 
ence is  not  recognized  nor  His  knocks  responded 
to.  The  servants  having  lost  all  zeal,  anxiety, 
and  watchfulness  for  His  return,  and  become  in- 
different and  unbelieving  in  general,  He  finds 
them  eating  and  drinking,  revelling  and  fighting, 
according  to  the  common  course  of  the  world,  and 
saying  one  to  another.  No  danger  that  the  Lord 
will  come  in  our  day,  if  ever.  And  so  the  whole 
house  is  in  disorder,  the  porter  off  his  guard,  and 
no  one  dreaming  that  it  is  Jesus  giving  His  last 
merciful  warning  ere  the  great  judgment  breaks 
forth. 

Accordingly,  the  showing  here  is  that  in  the 
^period  of  the  Lord's  second  coming  there  will  be 
a  season  in  which  He  will  be  present  with  the 
signals  that  His  long-promised  return  has  come, 
but  during  which  He  will  specially  knock  and 
plead  and  lift  up  His  voice,  that  haply  some  may 
recognize  His  call,  and  welcome  Him  to  their  em- 
brace and  His  rightful  habitation.  Though  come 
with  judgment-power  to  crush  out  everything  that 
stands  opposed  to  Him,  He  is  loth  to  break  in 
upon  His  wayward  servants  and  consume  them 
in  His  hot  displeasure;  therefore  He  stands  and 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  3OI 

knocks,  giving  to  His  unready  people  one  last 
warning  and  opportunity,  and  sending  shrill  and 
startling  summons  throughout  Christendom  that 
if  any  will  share  with  Him  the  glorious  marriage-  . 
supper  they  may  open  to  Him,  as  otherwise  they 
must  meet  the  doom  of  those  left  to  suffer  with 
hypocrites  and  unbelievers  in  the  great  tribula- 
tion, from  which  all  who  are  zealous  in  watching 
and  prayer  and  accounted  worthy  to  escape  and  to 
stand  before  the  Son  of  man  have  been  taken. 

It  was  a  sad  and  melancholy  thing  when,  at  the 
first  advent,  Jesus  came  unto  His  own  and  His 
own  received  Him  not.  But  sadder  still  will  it 
be  when  He  comes  again,  having  the  complete 
fulfilment  of  all  His  promises  in  His  hands,  and 
the  eteat  bodv  of  His  own  Church  does  not  know 
or  acknowledge  Him.  It  is  bad  enough  when 
those  who  have  never  known  Him,  never  counted 
themselves  His  friends,  never  tasted  of  His  good 
word  or  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  bar  Him 
out  from  their  affections  and  refuse  to  admit  Him 
to  their  hearts;  but  for  those  baptized  in  His  name, 
who  have  sworn  allegiance  to  His  authority,  who 
profess  to  be  marching  under  His  flag,  who  have 
been  entrusted  with  the  guardianship  of  the  treas- 
ures of  His  grace,  word,  and  sacraments  of  love, 
not  to  know  and  acknowledge  Him,  to  bar  Him 
out  of  His  own  house,  and  to  compel  Him  to 
stand   outside  knocking  and  begging   that   they 


302  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

may  open  to  Him,  is  the  superlative  of  human 
apostasy,  ingratitude,  and  unfeeling  depravity. 
Hence  the  exclamation,  "Hear,  O  heaven,  and 
give  ear,  O  earth:  I  have  nourished  and  brought 
up  children,  and  they  have  rebelled  against  Me!" 

And  yet,  as  He  prayed  for  His  murderers  at  the 
time  of  His  crucifixion,  so  He  is  loth  to  abandon 
and  overwhelm  Hisingrateand  degenerate  Church, 
and  at  the  last  still  holds  His  judgment  back  while 
He  stands  without  and  knocks,  if  haply  some  may 
open  to  Him,  that  He  may  come  in  to  them  and 
sup  with  them,  and  they  with  Him,  and  not  fall 
under  His  consuming  wrath. 

There  is  indeed  a  sense  in  which  the  statement 
of  the  text  is  true  during  all  the  ages  of  the  Church 
on  earth.  There  is  no  time  in  which  Jesus  does 
not  in  a  manner  stand  at  the  doors  of  those  who 
hear  His  Gospel,  knocking  and  calling  for  admis- 
sion with  His  saving  grace.  In  the  course  of  na- 
ture He  is  in  no  one's  heart,  but  outside.  Yet  He 
stands  proposing  Himself  to  each  as  the  needed 
Saviour.  By  His  word.  Spirit,  and  providence 
He  pleads  and  calls  and  knocks  for  admission.  It 
is  a  great  and  precious  truth,  never  to  be  lost  sight 
of,  that  the  very  Lord  of  glory  stands  before  every 
heart,  applying  for  place  and  supremacy  in  it  that 
He  may  be  its  Lord  and  Saviour.  Thus  He  ap- 
proaches every  living  soul  among  us,  saying  to  it 
in  many  forms  and  intonations,  "My  son,   give 


TO    THE    CJIURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  303 

Me  thine  heart."  Often  as  He  has  been  denied, 
He  still  continues  to  stand  and  call  and  wait  and 
plead  and  knock.  In  every  fresh  message  that 
sounds  from  the  sacred  desk,  in  every  new  stir  of 
conscience,  in  every  turn  that  awakens  thought 
upon  God,  judgment,  and  eternity.  His  voice 
sounds,  repeating  again  and  again  His  gracious 
call,  ''^My  son^  give  Me  thine  hearth 

And  when  the  voice  of  the  word  is  disregarded 
He  speaks  and  knocks  with  the  voice  of  the  rod. 
The  schemes  of  life  are  hedged  up  and  defeated, 
fond  possessions  are  swept  away,  health  is  de- 
stroyed, life  is  brought  into  peril,  death  strikes 
into  the  home,  trouble  shakes  the  soul,  and  one 
stroke  after  another  in  loud  detonation  is  made,  to 
get  the  poor  drowsy  sleepers  awake,  to  open  unto 
Him  and  let  Him  in  as  their  proper  Lord  and  Sa- 
viour. x\nd  many  a  time  and  long  has  Jesus  thus 
been  standing  and  knocking  at  the  hearts  of  mul- 
titudes who  have  persisted  till  now  in  disregarding 
His  calls  and  proposals,  and  have  become  so  ha- 
bituated to  their  disregard  of  Him  that  some  of 
these  days  they  will  hav^e  heard  the  last  call  of 
mercy,  and  neither  hope  nor  help  shall  ever  reach 
them  more. 

But  the  standing  and  knocking  described  in  the 
text  is  something  specific  and  peculiar.  What 
Christ  here  says  connects  above  all  with  the  refer- 
ences in  the  other  Letters,  where  He  speaks  of 


304  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

His  coming  to  remove  the  candlestick  from  those 
of  His  people  who  repent  not  of  the  evils  into 
which  they  have  fallen — His  coming  to  fight 
against  them  with  the  sword  of  His  mouth — His 
coming  to  relieve  His  suffering  saints  from  all 
their  burdens  and  to  reward  them  that  keep  His 
works  to  the  end — His  coming  as  a  thief  to  steal 
away  His  faithful  watchers  to  Himself — His  com- 
ing to  keep  those  who  keep  the  word  of  His  pa- 
tience out  of  that  hour  of  dreadful  trial  which  is 
then  to  come  upon  all  the  w^orld — His  second 
coming,  when  He  cometh  to  reckon  with  His 
servants,  having  His  reward  with  Him,  to  give  to 
every  man  according  as  his  work  shall  be, — that 
coming  of  which  the  Scriptures  everywhere  say 
so  much,  and  of  which  the  Church  of  our  day 
really  believes  and  understands  so  little. 

The  preaching  of  the  Gospel  and  the  ordinary 
operations  of  grace  and  providence  in  the  conver- 
sion of  sinners  is  never  called  knocking  unless  it 
be  in  this  lone  passage.  Nor  is  knocking  at  a 
door  to  notify  of  one's  presence  suggestive  of  the 
ordinarv  callino^  of  souls  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Knocking  gives  the  idea  of  a  degree  of 
violence  which  may  be  friendly  indeed,  but  does 
not  fall  in  with  the  common  motions  of  grace. 
Preaching  the  Gospel  is  the  proclamation  of  mercy 
in  the  name  and  stead  of  one  absent,  while  knock- 
ing is  the  announcement  of  one  present  and  newly 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  305 

arrived,  and  in  a  way  ver\-  different  from  the  be- 
seecliinor  of  men  to  be  reconciled  to  (jod.  If  it 
includes  the  ordinary  operations  of  grace  through 
the  word,  it  unquestionably  includes  much  more, 
and  must  be  so  understood.  We  find  no  such 
knocking  spoken  of  in  reference  to  either  of  the 
other  churches.  It  has  place  only  in  the  case  of 
this  church,  with  which  the  whole  career  of  the 
Church  in  this  world  terminates  by  Christ's  return 
to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.  Nor  is  there 
any  reference  to  Christ's  second  coming  in  all  this 
Letter  if  not  in  this  place.  It  must,  therefore,  in 
its  more  direct  and  particular  meaning,  belong  to 
that  period  when  the  judgment  is  on  the  final 
verge  of  breaking  forth  upon  the  world — that 
period  when  Christ,  if  not  already  present  unre- 
vealed,  is  on  the  very  point  of  ushering  in  the 
momentous  scenes  of  the  great  consummation. 

Preciselv  what  this  knockingf  is  or  is  to  be  it  is 
not  given  me  to  affirm,  but  it  is  unquestionably 
some  loud  enunciation  of  the  personal  presence 
of  the  Saviour  returned  to  this  world  or  of  such 
an  immediate  nearness  of  Him  in  the  great  scenes 
of  the  judgment  as  to  be  the  same  as  if  here  al- 
ready. His  coming  as  a  thief  would  seem  to  im- 
ply that  He  will  be  present  and  at  work  unknown 
to  the  world,  while  many  will  only  be  convinced 
of  the  fact  by  the  missing  of  what  He  has  taken. 

And   along  with   this  coming  as  a  thief  in   the 
20 


306  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

night  this  knocking  occurs.  It  would  therefore 
seem  to  be  some  special  indication  of  His  pres- 
ence, answering  to  a  newly-arrived  visitor's  knock 
at  the  door  to  make  known  to  the  inmates  that  he 
has  come — a  knocking  which  those  who  are  prop- 
erly awake  and  waiting  for  Him  will  understand, 
and  so  respond  as  to  be  in  position  to  welcome  and 
receive  Him  to  their  everlasting  blessedness. 

The  Scriptures  everywhere  tell  us  of  many  signs 
and  portents  to  be  given  as  that  notable  day  draws 
near.  Jesus  Himself  tells  us,  "There  shall  be 
signs  in  the  sun,  and  in  the  moon,  and  in  the 
stars;  and  upon  earth  distress  of  nations,  with 
perplexity;  the  sea  and  the  waves  roaring;  men's 
hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and  for  looking  after 
those  things  which  are  coming  on  the  earth:  for 
the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be  shaken  "  (Ivuke  21 : 
25,  26);  and  His  word  to  His  people  is,  "When 
these  things  begin  to  come  to  pass,  then  look  up, 
and  lift  up  your  heads;  for  your  redemption  draw- 
eth  nigh  "  (Luke  21  :  28).  And  the  sending  forth 
through  all  the  regions  of  nature  such  agitations 
and  alarms,  with  many  other  such  disturbing 
manifestations  prophesied  of  that  time,  would 
seem  to  answer  best  to  this  knocking  of  the  Sa- 
viour as  He  stands  before  the  door  to  give  His 
last  warning  call  to  His  drowsy  Church. 

And  along  with  such  signs  and  manifestations 
in  the  ordinary  ongoing  of  things  there  will  nat- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  307 

urally  and  necessarily  be  the  warning  voice  of 
many  earnest  servants  of  God,  teliing  what  these 
signs  mean,  and  proclaiming  aloud  into  the  ears 
of  a  slumbering  world  that  the  hour  of  God's 
judgment  is  come,  leaving  no  more  time  to  be 
lost  if  they  would  have  place  in  the  ark  of  His 
salvation. 

Three  distinct  commissions  are  given  in  the 
parable  which  sets  forth  the  calling  of  guests  to 
the  Marriage  of  the  King's  vSon.  The  first  went 
forth  to  the  Jews,  so  long  notified  beforehand,  but 
who  behaved  so  badly  in  the  case  that  the  King 
sent  forth  His  armies  and  destroyed  those  mur- 
derers and  burnt  up  their  city.  Then  went  forth 
a  second  commission  to  invite  everybody  from  all 
the  streets  and  lanes  of  the  whole  world.  It  is 
under  this  commission  that  the  ministers  of  sal- 
vation have  been  acting  from  that  time  to  this 
present.  But  the  parable  tells  of  a  third  and  final 
commission.  When  the  servants  returned  word 
that  all  was  done  as  commanded,  and  yet  there 
was  room,  the  Lord  said,  "Go  out  into  the  high- 
ways and  hedges,  and  compel  them  to  come  in,  that 
my  house  may  be  filled."  This  last  commission 
tells  of  a  degree  of  force  and  violence  in  the  ful- 
filment of  it  which  differs  from  those  preceding  it, 
and  shows  the  rising  up  of  a  class  of  preachers 
with  unwonted  point  and  constraining  urgency  in 
their  messages,  reinforced  by  the  alarming  condi- 


308  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

tioii  of  things  all  over,  giving  to  the  last  appeals 
of  mercy  a  degree  of  shrillness  and  compulsive- 
ness  never  heard  before.  And  this,  it  seems  to 
me,  is  that  particular  note  in  the  dispensations  of 
God  toward  the  drowsy  Church  and  apostate  world 
to  which  Jesus  above  all  here  refers.  Standing 
as  Judge  before  the  door  in  the  last  extremity  of 
time.  He  knocks  by  the  signs  and  proclamations 
of  His  presence,  that  "if  any  man^^  hear  His 
voice  he  may  yet  have  part  in  the  blessed  mar- 
riage-supper of  the  lyamb. 

And  what,  dear  friends,  if  that  time  has  already 
come  and  this  knocking  has  already  commenced  ? 
Far  off  it  cannot  be.  The  symptoms  of  its  near- 
ness are  growing  marvellously  distinct,  just  as 
foretold,  as  all  who  will  open  their  eyes  may  see. 
What  a  cry  has  of  late  years  gone  out  over  Chris- 
tendom, and  is  now  sounding  from  many  pulpits, 
books,  tracts,  and  platforms,  in  all  lands  and  lan- 
guages, saying,  ^^ Behold^  the  Bridegroom  cometh., 
go  ye  out  to  meet  Him^\f  Take  the  records  of 
the  last  decade,  or  even  the  last  five  years,  and 
when  was  there  ever  such  uneasiness  in  the  body 
of  the  earth,  such  disturbances  in  the  seas,  such 
singularities  in  the  seasons,  such  marked  violence 
in  the  motions  of  the  elements,  such  unusual  pres- 
entations in  the  conditions  and  relations  of  the 
heavenly  orbs,  such  perplexing  and  ominous  phe- 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  3O9 

nomena  in  the  appearances  of  the  sky  ?  When 
was  there  ever  such  perturbed  and  ugly  fermenta- 
tion in  the  whole  body  of  human  society,  such 
troubles,  fears,  distresses,  embarrassments,  and 
perplexities  of  nations,  such  discontent  and  rank- 
ling- animosities  between  classes  ?  When  were 
there  ever  such  numerous  dark  and  bloody  con- 
claves and  combinations  to  set  law  at  defiance, 
such  disreo^ard  and  overturning^  of  the  old  land- 
marks  and  stabilities  of  the  social  fabric,  such 
devilish  passions  plotting  in  secret  and  breaking 
out  in  all  sorts  of  wicked  disorder  and  destruction 
to  life  and  property  ?  When  were  there  ever  so 
many  scandalous  corruptions  in  public  and  private 
virtue,  and  such  an  unprecedented  spread  of  un- 
belief, decay  of  faith,  and  popular  infidelity,  de- 
pleting our  sanctuaries,  infesting  our  schools  and 
colleges,  lurking  in  the  hearts  of  half  the  pro- 
fessed Church,  and  cropping  out  even  in  the  very 
pulpits?  When  was  there  ever  such  a  multipli- 
cation and  heaping  up  of  fearful  calamities  and 
disasters  of  all  sorts?  Who  cannot  see  for  him- 
self how  outbreaking  selfishness  is  everywhere 
pressing  for  supremacy,  how  lawlessness  in  law- 
makers and  in  subjects  is  growing,  how  moral 
obligation  is  being  trampled  under  foot  by  great 
and  small,  and  how  evervthingr  shakes  and  swavs 
under  the  presence  of  a  spirit  which  bodes  only- 
disaster  and  anarchv?     And   what   does  all   this 


3IO  THE  LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

indicate  but  that  the  world  to-day  is  verging  upon 
the  border-line  of  that  dread  time  when  God  will 
let  His  judgment-thunders  loose?  Who  can  deny 
that  the  nations  at  this  hour  are  treading  over  vol- 
canoes that  may  any  moment  break  forth  and  in- 
volve the  world  in  ruins?  And  wdiat,  indeed,  is 
to  be  made  of  all  this,  of  which  the  newspapers 
are  ever  full — what  can  it  mean — if  it  be  not  the 
great  Judge  standing  before  the  door  and  knock- 
ing loud,  that  people  may  hear  and  answer  in 
humble  submission  to  His  offers  of  mercy,  lest 
they  find  themselves  suddenly  cut  off  for  ever? 
And  if  it  should  be  that  we  are  even  a  little 
beforehand  in  interpreting  this  to  be  the  Saviour's 
final  knocking  in  mercy  to  arouse  us  to  a  right 
reception  of  Him,  we  shall  not  lose  by  believing 
that  it  is,  and  ordering  ourselves  accordingly.  It 
is  very  certain  that  these  are  the  last  days  of  grace 
for  some  of  us,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  these 
may  be  the  last  days  of  grace  and  warning  that 
the  Church  shall  ever  have;  so  that  if  we  would 
at  all  cherish  the  hope  of  having  place  with  Jesus 
at  the  great  supper  to  which  He  has  bidden  us, 
the  argument  is  as  urgent  and  constraining  as  it 
can  be  made  to  stir  us  up  to  earnest  repentance 
of  all  past  negligence  and  sin  and  to  arouse  in  us 
a  zeal  in  all  that  is  good  and  sacred,  that  by  di- 
vine mercy  we  may  not  have  our  portion  with  the 
unprepared  and  unsanctified. 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LAO  DICE  A.  3II 

To  this,  then,  dear  friends,  let  us  set  ourselves 
with  honest  heart  and  firm  trust,  that  when  the 
Lord  conieth  we  may  be  able  to  look  up  to  Him 
and  say,  "  Lo,  this  is  our  God;  we  have  waited 
for  Him,  and  He  will  save  us:  this  is  the  Lord; 
we  have  waited  for  Him,  we  will  be  glad  and  re- 
joice in  His  salvation." 

Behold,  the  Bridegroom  cometh  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
And  blest  is  he  whose  loins  are  girt,  whose  lamp  is  burning  bright ; 
But  woe  to  that  dull  servant  whom  the  Master  shall  surprise 
With  lamp  untrimmed,  unburning,  and  witli  slumber  in  his  eyes  ! 


Hectare  CtoentietJ), 

Rev.  3  :  21  :  "To  him  that  oveicometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  Me 
in  My  throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set  down  with.  My 
Father  in  His  throne." 

IHERE  was  a  great  promise  contained  in 
the  verse  last  under  consideration,  which 
deserves  more  notice  than  then  could  be 
given  it.  Standing  at  the  door  and  knocking,  the 
promise  of  the  Saviour  is:  ^''If  any  man  hear  My 
voice  and  open  the  door^  I  will  come  in  to  him^  and 
sup  zvith  him^  and  he  with  Me^  Opening  to  Him 
is  our  work.  He  first  comes  to  us.  But  then  it 
is  for  us  to  answer  to  His  signals  and  calls,  to  un- 
lock the  bolted  doors,  and  to  meet  and  greet  Him 
as  our  blessed  Lord  and  Redeemer.  To  enable  us 
to  do  this  His  Spirit  is  always  present  to  assist  our 
natural  weakness.  And  to  any  and  every  one  who 
will  thus  open  to  Him  He  promises,  first  of  all,  to 
com.e  in. 

In  the  previous  verses  He  presented  Himself  as 
a  merchant  from  a  far  country,  with  refined  gold 
and  white  raiment  and  healing  medicines  to  be- 
stow upon  those  willing  to  buy  of  Him  or  to  come 
to  terms  with  Him.      Here  the  proposal  is  to  be- 

312 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  313 

come  the  familiar  ^//^^^  of  those  who  open*  to  Him 
the  doors  of  their  hearts  and  homes. 

It  may  be  very  distnrbing  to  have  so  great  a 
Being  come  into  onr  unworthy  dwellings.  The 
thought  of  it  may  put  us  ill  at  ease.  But  Jesus  is 
so  good,  so  merciful,  so  benignly  full  of  grace, 
that  the  moment  He  is  admitted  and  begins  to 
show  His  unspeakable  tenderness  and  condescen- 
sion the  perturbation  subsides  and  all  dread  dis- 
appears. Making  Himself  at  home  with  us  in 
our  homes,  sitting  down  with  us  at  our  tables, 
blessing  our  bread,  entering  into  familiar  commu- 
nion with  us  as  friend  with  friend,  mercifully  in- 
quiring into  our  hardships  and  trials,  gently  speak- 
ing away  the  shame  and  burden  of  our  unworthi- 
ness  and  sins,  pouring  upon  us  the  rich  treasures 
of  His  wisdom  and  grace,  drawing  us  with  the 
cords  of  a  man  into  sweet  converse  about  the 
blessed  things  to  come,  and  warmly  taking  us 
into  fellowship  wnth  His  saving  greatness,  we  are 
made  to  feel  that  we  have  reached  the  happiest 
day  of  our  lives,  and  heaven  itself  seems  to  settle 
down  upon  our  souls.  And  thus  He  offers  to  come 
in  and  step  with  iis. 

But  the  further  promise  is  to  have  us  sup  ivith 
Him.  Entertaining  Him,  He  proposes  to  enter- 
tain us.  He  means  to  give  a  supper  to  His  saints 
— a  supper  proportioned  to  His  greatness  and 
goodness — at  which  He  engages  to  give  us  place. 


314  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

Receiving  Him  to  sup  with  us  at  our  earthly 
tables,  He  proposes  to  have  us  sup  with  Him  at 
His  heavenly  banquet.  And  so  great  and  glori- 
ous is  the  honor  of  place  at  that  high  festival  that 
John  was  commanded  to  write,  ^^ Blessed  are  they 
which  ai^e  called  unto  the  marriage-supper  of  the 
Lamby 

But  in  the  verse  now  before  us  we  have  a  still 
more  exalted  promise.  We  may  call  it  the  prom- 
ise of  promises;  for  it  is  the  superlative  of  all  the 
offers  of  grace.  The  Saviour  here  passes  from 
gold  and  raiment  and  healing  unction  and  social 
fellowship  and  festive  communion  to  enthrone- 
ment and  everlasting  regency. 

When  Christ  was  on  earth  He  spoke  of  seats  on 
His  right  hand  and  His  left  to  be  given  to  those 
for  whom  they  are  prepared.  He  also  spoke  of 
twelve  thrones,  on  which  His  twelve  apostles  are 
to  sit  ' '  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the 
throne  of  His  glory."  And  so  the  apostles,  by 
His  inspiration,  continued  to  preach  and  teach 
that  "if  we  suffer  with  Him,  we  shall  also  reign 
with  Him."  In  these  and  other  places  something 
of  the  royal  prerogatives  of  His  saints  is  implied. 
But  nowhere  in  all  the  Scriptures  do  we  find  the 
immortal  dignity  of  His  faithful  ones  set  forth  in 
such  distinct  and  impressive  terms  as  in  the  text. 
More  even  than  was  promised  to  the  apostles  them- 
selves is  here   promised   to  every   true    believer. 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  315 

We  are  startled  at  the  magnificence  of  the  pro- 
posal: "Zb  /u'lfi  tJiat  overconietJi  icill  I  grant  to 
sit  with  Ale  ill  My  tJirone^  even  as  I  also  over- 
came^ and  am  set  dozen  ivith  My  FatJicr  in  His 
throne. ' ' 

Two  thrones  are  here  brought  into  contempla- 
tion: the  Father's  throne,  in  which  Jesus  now  is 
seated  with  the  Father,  and  a  second  throne,  which 
He  calls  His  07vn^  as  distinguished  from  the  throne 
of  the  Father. 

When  God  brought  His  only-begotten  into  the 
world,  and  raised  Him  from  among  the  dead.  He 
not  only  commanded  all  the  angels  to  worship 
Him,  but  said  to  Him,  "Sit  Thou  on  My  right 
hand,  until  I  make  Thine  enemies  Thy  footstool." 
Accordingly,  we  now  "see  Jesus,  who  was  made 
a  little  lower  than  the  angels  for  the  suffering  of 
death,  crowned  with  glory  and  honor,"  "  far  above 
all  principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and  do- 
minion, and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only 
in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come." 
And  this  is  that  throne  of  the  Father  on  which 
Christ  now  sits  as  "Head  over  all  things," 
"henceforth  expecting  till  His  enemies  be  made 
His  footstool."  It  is  not  the  throne  of  David, 
which  remains  to  be  established  on  Mount  Zion, 
nor  yet  the  throne  of  the  Son  of  man,  which  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  shall  obey;  but  the  ab- 
solute  God-throne^  invisible,  yet  omnipotent,   not 


3l6     •  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

in  the  world,  yet  ruling  over  it,  essentially  spirit- 
ual because  God  is  a  vSpirit,  and  for  ever  unchange- 
able and  irresistible  because  eternal.  It  is  the 
throne  which  only  Godhead  can  occupy,  and  on 
which  Christ  sits  coregent  with  the  Father  as  the 
true  and  only  Son  of  God.  And  this  throne  He 
will  for  ever  share  by  reason  of  His  Godhead. 
But  as  the  Christy  He  will  not  always  remain  upon 
the  throne  of  the  Father.  We  are  told  that  there 
is  a  time  coming  when  He  will  deliver  it  up  and 
take  another  throne,  of  a  more  special  and  subor- 
dinate character,  but  more  particularly  His  as  the 
Son  of  man. 

When  on  trial  before  Pontius  Pilate,  He  pro- 
fessed to  be  a  King,  and  declared  that  for  this 
purpose  He  was  born.  Daniel  says,  "I  saw  in 
the  night  visions,  and,  behold,  one  like  the  Son 
of  man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came 
to  the  Ancient  of  days,  and  they  brought  Him 
near  before  Him;  and  there  was  given  Him  do- 
minion, and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  peo- 
ple, nations,  and  languages  should  serve  Him: 
His  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which 
shall  not  pass  away,  and  His  kingdom  that  which 
shall  not  be  destroyed."  Hence,  speaking  of  His 
second  coming,  Jesus  says,  ^^Then  shall  He  (the 
Son  of  man)  sit  upon  the  throne  of  His  glory,  and 
before  Him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations."  And 
so  John  in  his  vision  of  the  coming  forth  of  "the 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  317 

Word  of  God '  ■  to  destroy  the  Beast  and  false 
prophet,  speaks  of  Him  as  crowned  with  many 
crowns  and  wearing  on  His  vestnre  and  on  His 
thigh  the  invincible  Name,  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords.  And  this  is  the  Christ-fhroiic 
as  distingnished  from  the  eternal  God-fhronc. 
The  one  is  the  centre  and  snmniit  of  the  absohite 
God-power;  the  other  is  the  centre  and  snmmit 
of  the  snbordinate  Alan-power,  made  sure  and 
firm  for  ever  in  the  God-man,  the  successful 
Redeemer. 

Christ's  throne,  as  distinguished  from  the  Fa- 
ther's throne,  is  the  throne  of  the  Son  of  man — 
"that  part  of  infinite  power,  that  function  and 
charge,  which  God  originally  intended  man  to 
occupy,  and  which  Christ  the  Man-Redeemer  of 
man  shall  occupy  in  the  fulness  of  the  times." 
It  is  not  the  throne  of  David  merelv,  for  that  re- 
spects  only  the  people  of  Israel;  but  it  is  the 
throne  of  man  taken  at  its  highest,  as  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus  is  the  summation  of  all  humanity. 
It  is  that  throne  which  would  have  come  to  Adam 
had  he  never  sinned,  and  which  now  cometh  to 
Christ  as  the  victorious  second  Adam,  the  Recov- 
erer  and  Restorer  of  all  things,  and  on  which  He 
is  to  reign  for  ever  over  the  world  He  has  re- 
deemed. It  is  that  throne  of  abiding  dominion 
which  comes  into  place  when  all  the  sovereignty 
of  this  world  becomes  the  sovereignty  of  our  Lord 


3l8  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

and  of  His  Christ,  and  the  Son  of  man  takes  the 
reins  of  empire  over  all  the  earth,  in  place  of  all 
the  dragon-powers  which  now  have  the  rule  ovei 
it.  And  with  reference  to  that  throne  the  prom- 
ise to  every  overcomer  is  that  he  shall  share  it 
with  Christ,  as  Christ  Himself  also  overcame  and 
is  set  down  with  the  Father  on  the  Father's 
throne. 

One  of  the  marvels  in  this  case  is  that  this 
promise,  for  the  first  time  so  clearly  given,  is  ad- 
dressed to  these  faulty  Laodiceans,  whom  Jesus 
had  just  now  threatened  to  reject  with  loathing. 
But  the  more  there  is  to  be  conquered,  the  greater 
the  glory  of  the  victory.  The  highest  place  is 
within  reach  of  the  lowest.  The  faintest  spark 
of  grace  in  the  mo§t  unfavorable  atmosphere  may 
yet  be  fanned  into  the  mightiest  flame.  Nor  is 
there  any  one  of  us,  or  any  sinner  now  walking 
on  our  streets,  who  may  not  rise  by  the  vigor  of 
penitence  and  faith  in  Christ  to  a  place  even  with 
the  King  of  glory  on  His  everlasting  throne. 

Nor  is  it  an  empty  honor  or  a  .meaningless  cere- 
monial to  be  granted  place  with  the  Son  of  man 
on  His  throne.  Not  for  parade-badges  do  the 
children  of  the  resurrection  get  their  dignities. 
Advanced  to  the  throne  of  regency,  they  are  not 
sham  kings,  any  more  than  Christ's  accession  to 
dominion  with  the  Father  is  a  mere  matter  of 
form  and  ceremony.     Titles  and  names  are  not 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  319 

hollow  designations  in  heaven.  The  session  of 
the  Son  of  God  on  the  right  hand  of  eternal 
Majesty  is  the  putting  of  all  power  in  His  hands 
and  the  putting  of  all  things  in  subjection  to  Him, 
leaving  nothing  but  the  eternal  Father  Himself 
that  is  not  put  under  Him.  And  like  as  Jesus  is 
set  down  with  the  Father  on  the  Father's  throne, 
so  every  overcomer  is  to  be  set  down  with  Jesus  on 
His  throne.  Whatever  the  offices  of  the  throne 
shall  be,  in  the  same  shall  all  overcomers  share. 
Enthroned  with  Christ,  they  are  to  "  reign  with 
Him,"  and  participate  in  all  the  doings  of  His 
kingdom  and  government.  "Do  ye  not  know 
that  the  saints  shall  judge  the  world?  .  .  .  Know 
ye  not  that  we  shall  judge  angels?"  (i  Cor.  6:  2, 
3).  Did  not  John  in  vision  behold  the  saints 
seated  upon  thrones,  with  powers  of  rulership 
put  into  their  hands,  and  living  and  reigning 
with  Christ  in  holy  and  immortal  dominion  ? 
Does  not  the  Psalmist  celebrate  it  as  the  final 
honor  of  all  the  saints,  ' '  to  execute  vengeance 
upon  the  heathen  and  punishments  upon  the 
people;  to  bind  their  kings  with  chains,  and 
their  nobles  with  fetters  of  iron ;  to  execute  upon 
them  the  judgments  written"?  (Ps.  149:6-9). 
Hath  not  the  Saviour  Himself  said,  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you.  He  that  believeth  on  Me, 
the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also,  and  greater 
works  than  the.se  shall  he  do"?  (John  14:12). 


320  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

As  kinoes  with  Christ  the  saints  are  to  fill  the 
place  and  do  the  work  of  kings.  They  are  to 
^^  reig7i  with  Him^^  as  truly  as  ever  Solomon  or 
David  reigned,  and  as  truly  as  the  Son  of  man 
Himself  shall  reign. 

The  end  of  our  salvation  is  not  to  sit  on  clouds 
and  sing  psalms,  or  to  luxuriate  in  the  idle  bliss  of 
an  eternal  languor  and  ecstasy.  The  life  of  Christ 
upon  His  Father's  throne  is  an  intense  and  busy 
life,  administering  the  kingdom  of  the  universe; 
and  the  life  of  the  saints  consociate  with  Him  on 
His  throne  is  to  be  in  its  degree  of  the  same  sort. 
They  are  called,  redeemed,  and  glorified  for  sub- 
lime regency  with  their  Lord;  and  in  whatever 
pertains  to  the  administration  of  His  kingdom  as 
the  Son  of  man  they  are  to  participate,  being 
joined  with  Him  then  as  the  angels  are  joined 
with  Him  now  in  the  administrations  of  the  God- 
throne;  yea,  and  in  still  closer  union,  for  by  His 
saving  grace  they  are  related  to  Him  on  the  hu- 
man side  as  He  is  related  to  the  Father  on  the 
divine  side. 

But  such  exalted  dignity  and  honor  do  not  come 
without  earnest  effort  and  hard  conflict.  Only  the 
overcorners  are  to  sit  with  Christ  on  His  throne. 
There  are  battles  to  be  fought  and  risks  to  be  run 
and  enemies  to  be  vanquished  and  difficulties  to 
be  conquered  before  we  are  eligible  or  prepared 
for  such  transcendent  promotion. 


ro    THE    CULKCH   OF  LAO  DICE  A.  32  I 

One  of  the  most  common  images  under  which 
the  Scriptures  set  forth  Christian  life  is  that  of  a 
fight — a  heavy  conflict  with  powerful  hindrances 
and  enemies.  It  is  constantly  reiterated  in  these 
Letters.  Every  true  Christian  is  a  soldier  and  has 
a  warfare  on  hand  to  fight  through  to  victory. 
This  is  the  picture  everywhere. 

The  particular  trouble  with  these  Laodiceans 
was  their  lukewarmness,  their  worldliness,  their 
boastful  self-complacency,  their  lack  of  deep  and 
earnest  spirituality.  With  this,  therefore,  their 
particular  fight  was  to  be.  Their  easy-going  in 
the  matters  of  faith  and  devotion  was  to  be  van- 
quished and  a  better  order  of  things  maintained. 
And  on  this  field  they  were  required  to  overcome 
before  they  could  inherit  this  glorious  promise. 

But  their  case  was  not  peculiar.  In  all  ages 
and  places  this  same  trouble  is  to  be  met.  It  is 
the  particular  trouble  with  the  Church  of  our  day. 
The  half-Christian  and  half-worldly  condition  of 
modern  relio^ionists  is  destroving^  the  souls  of  manv 
who  think  themselves  well  on  the  way  to  heaven. 
This,  then,  is  the  enemy  which  we  must  fight  and 
conquer  if  we  would  reign. 

But  various  and  many  are  the  Christian's  foes. 

Deep  within  us  and  everywhere  around  us  they 

rise  up  to  keep  us  from  the  prize.     In  our  own 

hearts  great  hosts  of  them  are  lodged.      Here  are 

thousands  of  promptings  to  unbelief  and  self-in- 
21 


322  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

diligence,  multitudes  of  lusts  after  evil  things,  and 
many  uprisings  of  bad  temper,  pride,  ugly  pas- 
sions, and  evil  dispositions. 

Along  with  these  inward  enemies  are  many  out- 
ward ones  to  reinforce  them.  Our  lives  lie  through 
a  world  adverse  to  God  and  holiness — a  world  full 
of  gayeties  and  follies,  cares  and  vexations,  false 
maxims  and  unholy  ways,  flattering  promises  and 
treacherous  caresses,  and  a  thousand  things  to  hin- 
der a  life  of  faith  and  godliness. 

And  back  of  all  is  the  great  combination  of  evil 
spiritual  powers,  the  devil  and  his  angels,  ruling 
in  the  children  of  disobedience  and  ever  activ^e 
in  using  their  hold  upon  the  world  and  human 
nature  to  prevent  the  rise  and  progress  of  faith 
and  righteousness.  Our  wrestling  is  not  with  flesh 
and  blood  only,  but  with  principalities  and  pow- 
ers, those  that  rule  in  the  darkness  of  this  world 
and  infest  the  whole  realm  of  the  air  we  breathe. 

These  spiritual  enemies  are  insidious,  and  have 
many  ways  of  access  to  our  hearts  and  feelings,  to 
catch  away  or  stifle  the  good  and  to  incite  to  evil. 
Though  under  limitations  and  constraints,  we 
need  to  be  on  special  guard  against  their  wiles 
and  cunning  assaults,  and  nothing  but  vigorous 
resistance  can  protect  us  from  their  snares  and 
wicked  machinations. 

It  is  hence  impossible  for  any  one  to  be  carried 
to  heaven  on  a  flowery  bed  of  ease.     Every  inch 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  323 

of  the  way  is  disputed  by  adverse  influences  and 
subtle  foes.  And  if  we  are  to  get  through  in  ul- 
timate triumph  we  must  fight  and  keep  up  the 
conflict  unto  vicLory. 

Considering  the  number  and  power  of  these 
enemies,  and  the  poverty  of  our  strength,  we 
might  well  despair.  But  Christ  has  conquered 
for  us,  and  has  made  it  possible  now  for  every 
one  of  us  to  conquer  also  through  His  strength 
and  grace.  Evil  is  not  omnipotent.  It  is  under 
ban,  and  the  promise  of  the  Almighty  is  that  if 
we  are  true  to  ourselves  and  to  Him,  He  will  not 
suffer  us  to  be  tempted  beyond  what  we  are  able 
to  bear.  He  hath  appointed  for  us  the  weapons 
of  success,  and  put  them  at  our  command  for 
every  emergency,  whether  for  defence  or  attack. 
With  God's  truth  we  may  amply  gird  our  loins. 
The  righteousness  of  Jesus  serves  as  an  effectual 
breastplate.  There  is  Gospel  provision  to  protect 
our  feet.  Faith  is  a  shield  wherewith  to  quench 
the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked  one.  An  already- 
wrought  salvation  is  an  ample  helmet.  The  word 
of  God  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit  by  which  to  hew 
our  w^ay  through  all  opposing  ranks.  Prayer  ever 
keeps  open  communication  with  the  heavenly 
throne  for  all  needful  supplies.  And  from  Him 
who  sits  upon  it  the  assurance  is:  "My  grace 
shall  be  sufficient  for  thee."  There  is  now, 
therefore,  no  doubt  of  our  success  if  only  we  set 


324  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

ourselves  to  conquer  and  use  the  means  provided 
for  our  victory.  But  there  must  be  honest  effort 
and  determined  perseverance  to  bring  us  through. 
We  know  how  Jesus  overcame.  We  know  the 
devotion  with  which  He  o-ave  Himself  from  the 
beginning  to  be  about  His  Father's  business.  We 
know  how  meekly  He  came  to  receive  baptism 
from  John  in  His  earnestness  to  fulfil  all  right- 
eousness. We  know  with  what  steadfastness  He 
endured  and  foiled  the  temptations  of  the  devil 
against  all  the  solicitations  of  carnal  appetite, 
worldly  ambition,  and  challenges  to  prove  Him- 
self the  Son  of  God.  We  know  with  what  earn- 
estness and  fidelity  He  pursued  His  sacred  mis- 
sion, and  in  all  His  trials  committed  Himself  unto 
God  as  unto  a  faithful  Creator.  We  know  with 
what  zeal  He  kept  up  His  constant  prayers  and 
communings  with  Heaven  amid  the  exhausting 
toils  of  earth.  We  know  with  what  holy  meek- 
ness He  submitted  to  abuse,  torture,  shame,  and 
death  that  He  might  fulfil  the  purpose  of  the 
Father  in  sending  Him  into  the  world.  And  we 
also  know  the  result — how  that  He  thus  overcame 
and  is  set  down  with  the  Father  upon  the  throne 
of  eternal  Majesty,  "leaving  us  an  example  that 
we  should  follow  His  steps,"  and  thus  overcome 
as  He  overcame,  and  sit  with  Him  on  His  throne 
as  He  overcame  and  is  set  down  with  His  Father 
on  the  Father's  throne. 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  L.IODICEA.  325 

Dear  friends,  it  may  cost  us  heavily  in  these 
last  evil  times  to  maintain  ourselves  in  true  and 
faithful  Christian  life;  but  the  glory  to  be  gained 
is  worthy  of  it.  Hot  and  trying  as  the  battle  with 
self  and  sin  may  be,  the  victory  is  sure  and  the 
reward  is  a  place  with  Jesus  on  His  everlasting 
throne.  Therefore,  let  us  not  be  weary  of  the 
strife  nor  ever  give  up  the  fight.  Heaven  is  with 
us  in  our  efforts.  Victory  must  come  if  we  flinch 
not,  and  immortal  regency  is  the  goal  of  our  hon- 
est fidelity. 

Some,  indeed,  have  thought  it  an  ill  covetous- 
ness  of  honor  for  us  poor  mortals  to  aim  and  strive 
for  such  high  place  in  the  world  to  come.  They 
speak  of  it  as  savoring  of  carnal  desire  to  think 
of  attaining  crowns  and  reigning  as  kings.  And 
some  appear  to  regard  it  as  a  token  of  their  su- 
perior modesty  that  they  never  indulge  in  such 
lofty  ambition  and  have  no  wishes  for  princely 
dominion.  But  such  people  do  greatly  mistake 
what  true  spirituality  is.  We  are  exhorted  to 
"  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts."  Jesus  Himself 
again  and  again  speaks  of  crowns,  and  holds  them 
forth  to  our  view  as  the  prize  of  our  high  calling, 
and  charges  each  Christian  to  be  diligent  and  hold 
fast  that  no  one  take  his  crown.  And  here  the 
direct  promise  is,  that  whosoever  shall  press  the 
good  fight  of  faith  through  to  victory  He  will 
grant  to  sit  with  Him  in  His  throne,  as  He  over- 


326  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

came  and  is  set  down  upon  the  Father's  throne. 
And  shall  we  take  it  for  piety  to  charge  Him  with 
extravagance  and  falsehood  in  the  promises  He 
gives  to  His  people?  Shall  we  put  the  lie  upon 
what  issues  from  our  Saviour's  lips,  and  call  it 
devout  modesty  ? 

I  cannot  but  regard  it  as  a  sorry  humility  which 
claims  to  be  more  spiritual  than  Jesus  and  to  know 
better  than  He  what  is  fitting  to  be  set  before  us 
as  the  goal  of  our  Christian  devotion.  Is  it  not  a 
pitiable  meekness  which  would  say  to  the  glorious 
Son  of  God  that  we  have  no  wish  for  His  offered 
thrones,  and  that  to  sit  and  reign  with  Him  is 
something  we  do  not  desire  ?  Is  it  not  a  poor 
appreciation  of  what  He  has  secured  for  us,  and 
bordering  on  unfaith  itself,  to  decline  aspiration 
to  what  is  held  forth  to  us  as  the  prize  for  which 
we  are  to  aim  ?  Alas,  alas,  for  the  miserable  las- 
situde of  spirit,  the  gross  indifference,  the  hazard- 
ous questioning  of  the  divine  promises,  and  the 
dangerous  doubting  of  the  Saviour  Himself,  for 
us  to  put  away  from  us  all  thought  and  effort  to 
share  these  exalted  honors!  And  if  we  do  not 
care  to  have  them,  we  mav  be  sure  we  shall  never 
get  them,  and  the  danger  is  that  we  may  never 
reach  heaven  at  all.  To  despise  dominion  or  to 
speak  evil  of  dignities  certainly  is  not  one  of  the 
things  belonging  to  proper  saintship. 

Let  us  beware,  then,   how  we  undervalue   the 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAOD/CEA.  327 

proposals  and  promises  of  onr  Saviour.  Let  us 
rather  rejoice  and  be  glad  that  He  hath  made  it 
possible  for  us  to  become  immortal  princes,  to 
reign  with  Him  on  His  throne,  and  to  share  the 
dominion  of  the  world  to  come.  And  as  we  value 
eternal  kinghood  let  us  bestir  ourselves  all  the 
more  earnestly  to  "  fight  the  good  fight  of  faith," 
knowing  that  there  is  laid  up  for  us  a  crown  of 
righteousness,  which  the  Lord  the  righteous  Judge 
shall  give  us  at  that  day,  and  not  to  us  only,  but 
to  all  them  that  love  His  appearing. 

Thou  Crucified  !  the  cross  1  carry, 

The  longer  may  it  dearer  be ; 
And,  lest  I  faint  while  here  I  tarry, 

Implant  Thou  such  a  heart  in  me 
That  faith,  hope,  love  may  flourish  there. 
Till  for  mv  cross  thf.  crown  I  wear ! 


Rev.  3:  22:  "He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches." 


HESE  words  bring  us  to  the  conclusion  of 
these  sacred  Letters  of  our  Lord.  For  the 
seventh  time  in  the  course  of  these  ad- 
dresses they  are  here  repeated.  But  they  do  not 
appear  in  the  same  place  in  each  instance.  In 
the  first  three  Letters  they  precede  the  final  prom- 
ise, and  in  the  last  four  they  follow  that  promise. 
The  change  seems  to  be  connected  with  the  growth 
of  evil  in  the  Church.  In  the  first  and  purer 
churches  these  words  are  spoken  more  from  with- 
in, and  in  the  case  of  those  in  which  the  evil  pre- 
ponderated they  are  spoken  more  from  the  out- 
side. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  grieving  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  thus  diminishing  His  gracious  influ- 
ences. We  read  of  a  place  in  which  Christ  did 
not  many  mighty  works  because  of  the  unbelief 
of  the  people.  So,  as  the  Church  lapses  from 
truth,  purity,  and  love,  and  takes  up  with  what 
is  contrary  to  Christ,  He  is  in  some  sense  forced 

328 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  329 

away  from  it,  and  His  communications  come  to  it 
more  from  without  and  from  a  distance  than  from 
the  intimacies  of  a  close  fellowship  and  nearness. 
The  apostle  tells  us  that  drawing  nigh  to  God,  He 
draws  nig^h  to  us;  and  the  converse  of  this  must 
also  be  true.  And  as  the  last  four  of  these  churches 
show  more  evil  in  them  thau  good,  the  Saviour 
ceases  to  speak  this  word  as  from  within  the 
Church,  and  speaks  it  from  the  outside — not,  in- 
deed, as  having  abandoned  His  Church,  but  as 
having  been  in  measure  pushed  out  of  that  thor- 
ouo^h  oneness  with  it  which  existed  in  better 
times. 

But  whether  this  is  the  true  reason  for  this 
studied  change  of  the  position  of  this  call  or  not, 
the  words  themselves  have  great  significance, 
which  we  should  not  fail  to  lay  to  heart. 

I.  We  are  here  assured  that  the  Lord  hath 
spoken  and  given  to  men  a  revelation  of  His 
mind  and  will.  At  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners  God  spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers 
by  the  prophets;  and  in  these  last  days  He  hath 
spoken  by  His  Son,  whose  words  have  been  con- 
firmed unto  us  by  them  that  heard  Him.  And  in 
these  seven  Letters  we  have  a  special  word  from 
heaven.  He  who  dictated  them  is  the  Alpha  and 
Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last,  He  who  hath  the 
seven  spirits  of  God  and  holdeth  the  keys  of  death 


330  THE   LETTERS    OE  JESUS. 

and  hell,  the  Son  of  God,  the  x\men,  the  Begin- 
ning of  the  creation  of  God.  What  He  ntters  He 
also  authenticates  as  "what  the  Spirit  saith." 
John  also  records  the  same  as  "words  of  proph- 
ecy," received  when  "in  the  spirit,"  and  given 
him  from  the  invisible  heavenly  world  to  be  made 
known  to  the  chnrches.  There  is  then  a  word  of 
God  on  earth  to  teach  ns  the  trne  mind  and  will 
of  Heaven. 

H.  We  are  here  assured  that  these  divine  utter- 
ances are  intended  for  all  people.  The  call  of  the 
text  is  as  universal  as  language  can  make  it. 
Bvery  one  that  hath  an  ear  is  called  upon  and 
admonished  to  "  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto 
the  churches."  The  meaning  is  not  merely  that 
every  one  in  Bphesus  was  to  give  attention  to 
what  was  written  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in 
Ephesus,  that  every  one  in  Smyrna  should  hear 
what  was  written  to  the  angel  of  the  church  in 
Smyrna,  and  so  on  of  the  several  communities  in 
these  several  cities.  Nor  is  the  meaning  simply 
that  all  in  these  several  cities  were  to  be  careful 
to  consider  all  these  several  Letters.  There  were 
then,  and  have  been  since,  and  are  now,  very 
many  other  people  having  ears  to  hear.  You  and 
I  and  all  men  the  world  over  have  ears  to  hear, 
and  are  as  well  capacitated  by  nature  and  grace  to 
take  in  these  messages  as  the   people  who  then 


TO    THE   CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  33  I 

lived.  And  wherever  there  is  an  ear  to  hear,  to 
that  ear  is  addressed  "what  the  Spirit  saith  unto 
the  churches." 

These  Letters  of  Jesus  are  thus  diviuel)-  put  for- 
ward for  our  instruction  and  profit  equally  with 
any  who  lived  before  our  time.  Each  of  these 
several  churches  was  of  course  expected  to  ^ive 
special  heed  to  what  was  specially  addressed  to  it; 
and  so  also  each  Letter  had  its  special  application, 
prophetic  and  otherwise,  to  its  particular  period 
in  the  successive  ages  of  the  Church's  earthly  ca- 
reer; but  all  was  for  all  in  every  age,  and  for  us 
now  as  well  as  for  any  other  people. 

I  cannot  therefore  but  think  that,  the  Church  in 
these  later  times  has  done  injustice  to  herself  and 
behaved  unseemly  toward  lier  Lord  in  not  assign- 
ing these  Letters  of  Jesus  a  higher  and  more  dis- 
tinguished place  in  the  Lessons  set  to  be  read  in 
her  w^orshipping  assemblies.  There  is  no  richer 
portion  of  Scripture;  there  is  no  portion  made  up 
more  exclusively  of  the  words  of  Christ;  nor  is 
there  another  portion  so  solemnh',  so  urgently,  or 
with  such  special  sanctions  pressed  upon  the  at- 
tention of  all  wdio  would  be  Christians.  And  yet 
in  proportion  to  the  imperativeness  of  the  Sa- 
viour's call  to  hear  what  He  has  thus  given  has 
been  the  dereliction  of  the  Church  of  the  last 
thousand  years  to  neglect  it.  This  should  not 
so  be.     And  as  men  would  honor  Jesus,  and  be 


332  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

true  to  His  word  as  our  Lord  aud  Judge,  I  call 
upon  them  to  repent  and  reform  from  this  ill  way 
of  dealing  with  these  momentous  messages  from 
His  throne.  They  are  His  messages  to  His  pro- 
fessing Cliurch  of  all  time.  And  I  cannot  see  how 
people  are  to  fulfil  their  duty  as  Christ's  disciples, 
and  yet  ignore  and  neglect  these  His  last  and  most 
special  communications  as  if  they  were  of  no  par- 
ticular interest  to  us.  Dear  friends,  let  us  not 
share  in  that  neglect. 

HI.  We  are  here  assured  that  the  contents  of 
these  Letters  are  of  transcendent  import.  Our 
Saviour  repeatedly  used  exactly  similar  expres- 
sions when  He  was  on  earth,  and  always  in  con- 
nection witli  things  of  vital  character.  It  was  a 
vital  thing  for  the  Jews  to  understand  the  charac- 
ter, mission,  and  testimony  of  John  the  Baptist. 
It  is  a  thing  of  vital  moment  to  understand  the 
operations  of  grace  and  our  duty  with  regard  to 
the  same.  Momentous  are  the  facts  touching  the 
nature  and  condition  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
in  this  world,  the  ending  up  of  things  at  the  ter- 
mination of  the  present  dispensation,  and  the  ul- 
timate fate  of  the  tares  and  the  wheat.  It  is  of 
very  great  account  for  us  to  know  what  is  spirit- 
ual defilement  and  spiritual  purity,  and  what  is 
true  and  consistent  righteousness  before  God. 
And  for  the  people  who  live  in  the  last  perilous 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LAODICEA.  333 

days  of  the  great  Antichrist  nothing-  is  more  im- 
portant than  to  be  able  to  identify  the  Beast  and 
to  know  the  speedy  and  inev^itable  perdition  of 
all  who  worship  him  and  receive  npon  them  his 
mark.  But  it  is  with  reference  to  these  \ery 
things,  and  these  only,  that  these  particular  words 
are  used.  In  each  of  those  instances  they  are 
given  but  once,  while  here  the)-  are  uttered  seven 
times,  and  each  time  includim^  the  whole  bodv  of 
these  Letters.  Unquestionably,  then,  in  the  mind 
and  estimate  of  the  Lord  we  have  here  what  is  of 
superlative  doctrinal  and  practical  importance.  If 
the  same  truths  may  be  fragmentarily  gathered 
from  other  parts  of  Holy  Scripture,  we  have  them 
here  in  concrete  and  formal  summation  and  prac- 
tical application,  such  as  we  find  not  elsewhere. 

If  we  would  know  the  true  nature,  offices,  and 
glory  of  our  divine  Lord  and  Redeemer,  we  here 
have  Him  presented  and  described  by  Himself 
in  sententious  fulness  and  originality  beyond  any 
other  part  of  the  sacred  word. 

If  we  would  know  the  nature,  organization,  re- 
lations, dangers,  duties,  and  career  of  the  Church, 
how  its  responsibilities  are  distributed,  and  what 
in  any  department  or  period  of  its  history  is  ap- 
proved or  disapproved  by  Christ,  and  how  in  any 
case  it  must  fare  in  His  judgment,  we  have  it  here 
most  succinctly  given  in  His  own  words. 

If  we  would  know  wherein  true  Christian  life 


334  T^^^   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

or  saintship  consists,  with  what  sort  of  dangers 
and  conflicts  it  is  beset  in  this  w^orld,  in  what 
temper  and  attitnde  w^e  are  to  keep  ourselves 
with  regard  to  our  various  relations  and  sur- 
roundings that  we  may  come  off  conquerors  at 
the  last,  there  is  no  place  where  the  same  is 
more  vividly  set  forth. 

If  we  would  know  exactly  what  Jesus  thinks 
of  the  many  grave  matters  which  have  developed 
among  Christian  professors  in  the  several  ages  of 
the  Church,  and  which  still  agitate,  divide,  and 
distract  it,  we  here  have  His  mind  upon  them 
direct  from  His  throne.  Every  honest  and  faith- 
ful student  can  here  see  how  He  puts  His  finger 
upon  each  particular,  and  speaks  His  words  of 
praise  or  of  condemnation.  We  may  find  else- 
where what,  if  rightly  applied,  would  conduct  us 
to  the  same  conclusions;  but  w^e  have  here  not 
onh-  principles  whose  applications  we  must  infer 
and  reason  out  in  our  w^eak  and  uncertain  w^ay, 
but  the  facts  and  conditions  themselves  are  brought 
under  the  all-penetrating  eye  of  the  Saviour  and 
authoritatively  pronounced  upon  by  Him.  In- 
deed, we  here  have  the  mind  of  Christ  with  ref- 
erence to  all  important  developments,  tendencies, 
systems,  and  conditions  in  the  Church  from  the 
beeinnino-  till  now,  in  a  form  much  less  mistak- 
able  and  more  direct  than  anywhere  else. 

And  if  we  would  know  what  is  to  be  the  future 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  335 

of  the  saints  after  this  present  order  of  things 
comes  to  an  end,  and  get  a  deep  insight  into  the 
life  and  honors  which  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
is  to  bring  to  His  redeemed  ones,  the  several  prom- 
ises in  these  Letters  present  a  body  of  particnlars 
in  this  regard  unexcelled  by  any  other  part  of 
Scripture.  A  completer  description  of  those  good 
things  which  Jesus  has  in  reserve  for  His  true  and 
faithful  people  is  not  found  in  all  God's  word. 
All  commonplace  ideas  of  heaven  are  here  put  to 
utter  shame  as  not  reaching  so  much  as  the  first 
syllables  of  the  sublime  charter  of  the  rights  and 
honors  forepledged  to  us  by  our  IvOrd. 

These  are  things  of  priceless  value,  and  fully 
warrant  all  the  urgency  with  which  they  are 
pressed  upon  universal  attention. 

IV.  We  are  here  assured  that  it  is  the  will  of 
our  Ivord  that  we  should  earnestly  study  and  prac- 
tically apply  what  is  given  us  in  these  Letters, 
and  dispose  our  thinking,  hopes,  and  activities 
accordingly.  Nothing  less  than  this  is  included 
in  the  hearing  to  which  the  text  refers.  To  hear 
only  with  the  outward  ear,  to  have  a  mere  intel- 
lectual acquaintance  with  what  has  thus  been  dic- 
tated from  heaven,  does  not  fulfil  the  audience  the 
Saviour  calls  for.  Having  given  us  ears.  He  has 
given  His  word  that  we  may  use  our  ears  to  take 
it  in,  and  thus  to  ponder  it  and  profit  by  it.     The 


336  THE   LETTERS   OE  JESUS. 

admonition  corresponds  to  what  was  said  at  the 
opening  of  the  book,  where  it  is  written,  "Blessed 
is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words 
of  this  prophecy,  and  keep  those  things  zvhich  are 
zvritten  therein^  It  is  the  same  that  the  Saviour 
elsewhere  relates  of  the  good-ground  hearers, 
"who  in  an  honest  and  good  heart,  having  heard 
the  word,  keep  it,  and  bring  forth  fruit  with  pa- 
tience." 

There  is  a  hearing  which  so  lacks  in  apprecia- 
tion or  is  accompanied  with  such  indifference  that 
the  devil  has  no  trouble  in  preventing  it  from 
making  any  practical  impression  on  the  heart. 
There  is  also  a  hearing  which  for  a  while  enter- 
tains and  believes,  but  is  content  with  such  a  su- 
perficial regard,  and  takes  in  only  to  such  shallow 
depths  that  all  good  from  it  soon  wilts  and  per- 
ishes. There  is  also  a  hearing  with  every  prom- 
ise of  thrifty  growth  and  ample  harvest,  which, 
however,  allows  itself  to  be  so  invaded  "with 
cares,  riches,  and  pleasiires  of  this  life"  that  they 
choke  and  smother  proper  fruitfulness.  But  all 
such  hearing  falls  far  short  of  the  hearing  de- 
manded in  the  text.  This  is  a  hearing  which 
gives  earnest  and  studious  attention,  which  takes 
the  matter  to  heart  in  all  the  depths  of  the  soul, 
and  which  allows  nothing  to  interfere  with  a  de- 
vout, practical,  and  persevering  conformity  to 
what  is  heard  and  learned. 


TO    THE    CHURCH   OF  LAODICEA.  337 

These  pictures  of  Jesus,  His  glory,  power, 
offices,  all-searchiug  kuowledge,  aud  iufallible 
judgments,  are  spoken  directly  to  the  heart,  that 
they  may  affect  and  move  us  to  right  faith  and 
fear.  These  sharp  rebukes  and  sentences  upon 
wrong  are  for  us  to  take  home  to  our  souls,  that 
we  may  get  us  out  of  everything  thus  condemned 
and  stand  in  awe  of  the  solemn  threatenings  of 
our  Lord.  These  gracious  encouragements  and 
grand  promises  are  meant  to  take  hold  of  our 
imaginations,  quicken  our  heavenly  desires,  and 
inflame  our  anticipations,  that  the  vain  things  of 
this  world  mav  dwindle  from  our  reg^ard  and  our 
whole  affection  be  set  on  the  things  above.  Nor 
have  we  rightly  heard  "  what  the  Spirit  saitli  unto 
the  churches"  till  we  come  to  this  temper  and 
state  of  mind  and  heart;  for  the  Gospel  is  not  to 
be  to  us  a  thing  of  word  only,  but  of  power. 

V.  And  yet  one  other  iuiportant  matter  is  sig- 
nified in  the  text;  and  that  is  the  intensely  per- 
sonal character  of  what  is  here  demanded.  The 
Saviour  is  addressing  ministers  and  congregations, 
but  after  all  it  is  the  separate  individuals  that  are 
to  give  ear  and  do  this  hearing. 

We  are  apt  to  lose  ourselves  in  the  mass.     The 

community,  the  country,  the  church,  the  general 

body,  is  prone  to  preoccupy  the  attention,  while 

we  lose  sight  of  the  individuals  of  which  every 
22 


338  THE  LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

society  is  made  up.  But  it  is  the  nature  of  Chris- 
tianity to  single  out  and  give  importance  to  the 
individual  man  and  woman.  It  deals  not  with 
people  in  masses,  but  with  each  soul  separately, 
and  by  working  upon  and  from  the  individual  it 
seeks  to  affect  and  condition  society.  As  the 
builder  takes  stone  by  stone  to  build  his  walls,  so 
Christ  takes  people  one  by  one  to  make  up  His 
Church;  and  there  is  neither  sanctification  nor 
Church  except  as  individual  souls  are  moved  and 
sanctified  and  personally  brought  into  right  rela- 
tions to  God. 

Hearing  is  a  personal  thing.  It  cannot  exist 
apart  from  the  individual  who  hears.  Others  can- 
not hear  for  us  if  we  do  not  hear  for  ourselves. 
The  Church,  the  community,  the  society  cannot 
hear  for  us  if  there  is  no  hearing  on  the  part  of 
the  individuals  who  compose  them.  One  man 
cannot  believe  for  another  man,  anv  more  than 
we  can  eat  or  sleep  for  one  another.  Bai:h  must 
do  his  own  repenting,  believing,  and  serving  of 
God,  just  as  he  must  die  for  himself  and  stand  in 
the  judgment  for  himself.  And  hence  the  hear- 
ing of  which  the  text  speaks  is  devolved  upon 
each  individual  soul  the  same  as  if  no  others 
existed. 

It  is  very  significant  that  while  the  church,  the 
congregation  as  a  whole,  is  rebuked,  reprimanded, 
encouraged,  exhorted,  or  advised,   the  promise  is 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  OD  ICE  A.  339 

always  to  the  individual  ixnd  in  the  singular:  "To 
hi}}i  that  overcometh;"  "//<?  that  overconieth;" 
"  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee 
a  crown  of  life."  And  so  the  command  in  each 
instance  is:  "//<?  that  hath  an  ear,  let  ///;;/  hear 
what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches."  What 
is  said  to  the  body  it  is  made  the  duty  of  each  in- 
dividual person  to  deal  with  for  himself  and  her- 
self We  cannot  go  to  heaven  under  our  neigh- 
bor's cloak.  We  cannot  shift  our  individual  re- 
sponsibilities to  other  people's  shoulders.  We 
cannot  hide  ourselves  in  the  nniltitude  when  we 
come  before  the  bar  of  God.  Not  as  others  view 
Christ,  but  as  we  individually  view  Him — not  as 
others  hear  His  voice,  love,  honor,  and  obey  Him, 
but  as  we  for  ourselves  do  it — not  as  others  believe 
and  strive  and  overcome,  but  as  we  personally  take 
hold  and  press  our  own  way  to  victory — are  we  to 
inherit  the  promises.  And  until  we  learn  to  file 
out  singly  in  these  matters  of  grace  and  salvation, 
and  individually  hear,  appropriate,  and  act,  no 
paradise,  no  crown,  shall  we  ever  reach. 

Dear  friends,  how  is  it,  then,  with  us?  To 
what  extent  have  these  sacred  Letters  of  our  Lord 
served  us  ^ '  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction, 
for  instruction  in  righteousness  "  ?  We  have  been 
lingering  long  over  these  solemn  communications 
of  Jesus  to  His  churches.     Have  we  been  giving 


340  THE   LETTERS   OF  JESUS. 

to  tliem  a  reverent  ear  and  an  attentive  heart? 
Very  many  precious  truths,  like  pearls  from 
heaven,  have  met  us  in  the  way.  Have  we 
seized  upon  them  as  they  came  and  appropriated 
them  for  the  enrichment  of  our  souls?  Many 
sweet  sounds  of  heavenly  music  have  fallen  upon 
us  from  the  lips  of  our  glorified  Saviour.  Have 
they  served  to  charm  away  our  hearts  from  the 
strifes  and  scrambles  of  earthly  greed  and  the  so- 
licitations of  earthly  vanities?  We  have  been 
hearing  of  many  stern  rebukes  for  decline  in  first 
love,  for  departures  from  the  pure  faith,  for  hypo- 
critical zeal  and  false  profession,  for  worldly  con- 
formity and  the  indulgence  of  worldly  lusts,  for 
the  wearing  of  a  name  to  live  while  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins,  for  the  self-complacent  and  self- 
deceived  who  think  they  are  rich  and  increased 
with  goods  and  have  need  of  nothing,  while 
wretched  and  miserable  and  poor  and  blind  and 
naked.  Have  we  then  taken  them  to  heart,  and 
tried  ourselves  by  the  demands  of  God,  and  set 
ourselves  to  honest  repentance  where  we  have 
found  ourselves  included  among  the  faulty?  We 
have  been  hearing  many  blessed  commendations 
of  labors  and  sufferings  and  patience  and  unflinch- 
ing perseverance  in  duty  for  the  sake  of  Christ's 
name,  and  of  the  sublime  rewards  held  out  to 
every  overcomer  who  is  faithful  unto  death. 
Have  they  had  the  effect  to  inflame  our  zeal,  to 


TO    THE    CHURCH  OF  LA  on  ICE  A.  34 1 

strengthen  our  resolves,  to  encourage  our  hearts, 
and  to  wed  us  to  the  word  of  Christ's  patience? 
Certainly  we  have  been  brought  very  close  to  di- 
vine things.  The  light  of  heaven  has  been  stream- 
ing over  and  about  us.  The  Lord  Jesus  in  His 
glory,  in  His  survey  of  those  who  profess  to  be 
His  people,  in  His  threatenings  to  the  defective, 
and  in  His  solemn  judgments,  has  come  very  near 
to  us.  And  great  responsibilities  are  thus  de- 
volved upon  our  souls.  Have  we,  then,  been 
made  better  and  furthered  in  our  spirituality  by 
what  we  have  been  called  to  contemplate?  We 
have  been  compelled  to  look  at  the  approaching 
outcome  of  the  whole  present  order  of  things,  at 
the  certain  nearness  of  the  end,  at  the  coming 
tribulation  which  is  to  overtake  this  wicked  world 
and  all  who  have  not  made  clean  their  escape  from 
its  sins  and  vanities,  and  how  only  those  who 
watch  and  pray  always  and  keep  the  word  of 
Christ's  patience  shall  be  kept  out  of  the  dread- 
ful calamities  which  then  shall  come.  Has  it, 
then,  moved  us  to  the  girding  up  of  our  loins, 
the  trimming  of  our  lamps,  and  the  setting  of 
ourselves  in  the  attitude  of  men  that  wait  for 
their  Lord,  that  when  He  cometh  and  knocketh 
we  may  open  unto  Him  immediately  ? 

Dear  friends,  my  heart  is  full,  it  is  enlarged 
with  desire,  it  swells  with  anxiety,  that  all  who 
hear  me  on  these  great  themes  may  be  rightly  ad- 


342  THE   LETTERS    OF  JESUS. 

vised  of  the  truth  and   made  alive  to  all  that  is 
contained  in  these  messages  of  the  Spirit.     Here 
is  light.      Here  is  blessedness.      Here  is  salvation. 
Here  is  glory  everlasting.    Here  is  the  tree  of  life. 
Here  is  the  crown  of  life.      Here  are  the  hidden 
manna  and  the  white  stone  with  the  new  name. 
Here  are  power  and  dominion  and  the  possession 
of  the   Morning  Star.      Here   are   the  white  rai- 
ment of  saintly  dignity,   enrolment  with  the  ce- 
lestial citizens,  and  acknowledgment  by  the  King 
before  the  eternal  Father  and  His  angels.     Here 
are  inbuilding  and  incorporation  with  the  heav- 
enly temple  as  pillars  of  beauty  and   glory,   in- 
scribed with  the  name  of  God  and  the  name  of 
the  city  of  God  and  the  new  name  of  the  great 
Redeemer.     Yea,  here  is  place  at  the  marriage- 
supper  of  the  Ivamb,  and  place  with  Jesus  on  His 
throne  as  He  has  place  upon  the  Father's  throne. 
And  all  is  put  within  our  reach  and  reserved  for 
every  one  who  will  "fight  the  good  fight  of  faith, 
laying  hold  on  eternal  life."     Let  us  appreciate 
and  improve  our  privileges.     Prophets  and  kings 
desired  to  see  the  things  we  see,  and  have  not  seen 
them,  and  to  hear  the  things  we  hear,  and  have 
not  heard  them.     Such  opportunities  can  come  to 
us  but  once,  and   the   time  of  them  is  here  and 
rapidly  passing  away.     Any  day  the  summons  of 
God's  trump  ma}^  come  to  His  believing  and  ready 
ones,  saying,  "  Come  up  hither."     And  so,  then, 


rO    THE    CHURCH   OF   LAOD/CEA.  343 

if  any  one  hath  an   ear,  let  him   hear  what  the 
Spirit  saith  nnto  the  chnrches. 

Jesus  is  ready  to  hear  us.  He  bids  ks  ask  of 
Him  whatsoever  we  need,  and  promises  that  we 
shall  not  ask  in  vain.  Shall  we  not,  then,  give 
earnest  heed  to  all  His  word,  and  ever  pray  that 
it  may  be  to  us  the  bread  of  life? 

Far,  far  away,  like  bells  at  evening  pealing, 
The  voice  of  Jesus  sounds  o'er  land  and  sea, 

And  laden  souls,  by  thousands  meekly  stealing, 
Kind  Shepherd  !  turn  their  weary  steps  to  Thee. 

Rest  comes  at  length  ;  though  life  be  long  and  dreary, 
The  day  must  dawn  and  darksome  night  be  past ; 

All  journeys  end  in  welcomes  to  the  weary, 

And  heaven,  the  heart's  true  home,  will  come  at  last. 


THK  END. 


Date  Due 


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